Building energy modeling: A systematic approach to zoning and model reduction using Koopman Mode Analysis

As the scope of building design and construction increases and building systems become more integrated, the use of building energy models has become increasingly widespread in evaluating and predicting building performance. Despite the growing sophistication of building modeling tools, errors can arise from approximations that are made by a practitioner during model creation. This paper examines the process of model zoning, i.e., how the volume of a building is divided into regions where properties are assumed to be uniform. Zoning is performed during model creation to decrease model complexity. However, accuracy reduces when dissimilar regions of a building are defined by a single zone. In this paper, a systematic approach to creating zoning approximations is introduced. Utilizing the Koopman operator, the time-series output produced by a building simulation can be decomposed into spatial modes which capture the thermal behavior of a building at different time-scales. Identification of spatial structures within these modes forms a framework for the creation of simplified models of varying levels of granularity. In this paper, a detailed model is analyzed, and model accuracy is studied as coarser building representations are created using the introduced method.