Subtasks

The objectives shall be achieved by the participants in the following subtasks:

Subtask A: Occupant movement and presence models in buildings

Subtask leader:

  • Andreas Wagner, KIT, Germany
  • Bing Dong, The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA

Simulating occupant movement and presence is fundamental for occupant behavior research. The main objective of the subtask is to provide a standard definition and simulation methodology for different personnel movement.

The influencing factors include various types of spaces, time and events. The common method used currently is the inverse function method. As occupant moves stochastically, models are often probabilistic. Four types of occupancy models are categorized according to the problems to address: 1) Number of occupants at the Building level; 2) Occupied status at the Space level; 3) Number of occupants at the Space level; 4) Location of an individual at the Occupant level.

The scope of the subtask is as follows:

  1. Develop standard definition and classification of occupant movement to provide a unified way to describe movement;
  2. Measurement to collect occupant movement data in field;
  3. Analyze the measured data and develop models of occupant movement using the standard definition and classification;
  4. Validation of the models using separate set of measured data;
  5. Application to actual engineering, including integration with simulation tools.

Subtask B: Occupant action models in residential buildings

Subtask leader:

  • David Shipworth, University College London, UK
  • Henrik Madsen, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark

From reviewing projects and papers, it seems we lack consistency in experimental design and availability of high quality data and in modelling methodologies and availability of model algorithms or source code. Coordination of efforts to ensure the above, avoiding replication and channeling effort where most needed are necessary. Models are supposed to be integrated into a coherent whole.

The scope of this subtask is as follows:

  1. Residential occupant modelling social network of who is doing what and how;
  2. State of the art in residential occupant modelling, following the path from presence, activities, behavior to comfort with thorough analysis;
  3. Field survey and data management protocol for a good model;
  4. Modelling strategies and validation techniques for a good model;
  5. Use of the above to coordinate filling of gaps between simulation and measurement;
  6. Lighthouse contributions of new models and their applications during the Annex lifetime for partner survey of existing and forthcoming linked projects.

Subtask C: Occupant action models in commercial buildings

Subtask leader:

  • Ardeshir Mahdavi, Vienna University of Technology, Austria 
  • Liam O'Brien, Carleton University, Canada

Some specific challenges of occupant behavior modeling exist in commercial buildings, where occupant behavior is of high spatial and functionality diversity. A commercial building is regulated by multiple rather complex environmental control systems, and the control degrees of freedom between occupants and building or system managers are at diverse levels. Occupants in commercial buildings often interact out of social issues of mutual influence and negotiation.

The scope of this subtask is as follows:

  1. Empirical observations of occupant behavior to collect data by monitoring equipment;
  2. Development of mathematical/statistical methods;
  3. Validation of the occupant behavior models by comparison with empirical observations.
  4. Applications in real cases as guidelines for field survey and simulation.

Subtask D: Integration of occupant behavior models with BEM programs

Subtask leader:

  • Tianzhen Hong, LBNL, USA
  • Andrew Cowie, University of Strathclyde, UK

This subtask will bridge between Subtasks A-C and Subtask E, enable applications and promote third-party software development and integration. As the outcome of the Annex will be used for various targets related to building energy evaluation, the integration of models with BEM programs will generally include three different ways: 1) pre-calculated schedules or settings, which are used as inputs for occupancy or actions without feedback; 2) direct code integration via function calls to dynamic link libraries (DLLs); 3) co-simulation via functional mock-up interface to allow simultaneous simulations with current BEM programs.

The scope of the subtask is as follows:

  1. Develop a framework and an XML schema to describe energy-related occupant behavior in buildings, which provides a standard language for occupant behavior;
  2. Develop a software architecture and module to incorporate the occupant behavior models developed in Subtasks A-C;
  3. Produce a Software Developer Guide for third party software developers;
  4. Integrate the Schema and software Module with BEM programs;
  5. Demonstrate the use of the Schema and software Module through examples.

Subtask E: Applications in building design and operations

Subtask leader:

  • Khee Poh Lam, CMU, USA
  • Cary Chan, Hong Kong Green Building Council, Hong Kong
  • Clinton Andrews, Rutgers University, USA

This subtask will provide case studies to demonstrate applications of the new occupant behavior definition and models. The models will be used by building designers, energy saving evaluators, system operators, etc. Case studies provide verification of the applicability of the models by comparing the measured and the simulated results.

The scope of the subtask is as follows:

  1. Develop a behavior guideline to illustrate the impact of occupant behavior on building design and operation;
  2. Create a few case studies to demonstrate how to use the software module developed in Subtask D.