Verification of BLAST by Comparison With Measurements of a Solar-Dominated Test Cell and a Thermally Massive Building

Abstract

As part of an ongoing effort to use empirical data to test the computational accuracy of the building energy analysis computer program BLAST, two verification studies are reported. In the first, comparisons between air temperatures measured in a highly solar driven test cell and temperatures predicted by the program have been made. The comparisons were performed for two time periods. The simulations were driven by weather data collected at the experimental site in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The test cell configuration and weather data manipulations are described; quantitative evaluations of the comparisons between measured and predicted interior temperatures are presented; limitations of the comparisons are discussed; and sensitivities of the simulation results to uncertainties in the measured parameters are examined. In the second study, comparisons of BLAST predictions to air and surface temperatures, surface heat fluxes, and cooling loads measured in a massive structure have been carried out. These tests represent a verification of the program’s ability to (i) calculate full-scale building loads and (ii) model effects of auxiliary cooling. The structure, its controlled external environment, and the tests conducted are described; the comparisons are presented; and possible sources of discrepancies observed in the comparisons are identified and examined in detail.