Date of Award

Spring 4-26-2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Tao, Yong

Second Advisor

Sinaki, Maryam

Third Advisor

Zhang, Wei

Subject Headings

Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Building Energy Simulations (BES) are necessary for designing energy-efficient systems. Open-source simulation software developed by the Department of Energy (DOE), EnergyPlus (EP) provides Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) weather data that consists of a 15-year average. Two major concerns about this data are the inability to detect extreme conditions and limited data locations. There is a greater number of Microclimate (MC) stations that can be used for simulations, but it involves time-consuming data preparation to match the EP format. This study investigated the effects of Urban Heat Island (UHI) and the MC of Lake Erie. A comparison of the MC data to TMY data was performed by running heating and cooling calculations with each of the weather datasets in EP. UHI simulation for New York City Manhattan in July 2020 resulted in a 17.6% higher cooling demand than in the rural area, and 26.0% higher than the TMY data. Lake MC comparison found an almost 10.0% difference in July 2019’ cooling demand between two stations located 20 miles apart. This research reassured that it is essential to include MC data in energy building design and found a way to eliminate the time-consuming aspect of it. With the help of Virtual Information Fabric Infrastructure (VIFI) MC data can be automatically prepared and converted to the correct format. Furthermore, a user-friendly portal that includes both TMY and MC weather is being developed to make accurate energy simulations highly accessible.

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