Introduction to the use of systems BIM (building information modeling) for thermal energy simulation
Energy consumption is one of the largest costs over the lifetime of a building. In Brazil, the subject of energy efficiency became relevant in the last decade, as laws and technical regulations published in the Brazilian Labeling Program (PBE) of INMETRO in order to reduce the electricity consumption by Commercial, Public and Residential buildings. The rise of new technologies brought many changes in the design process. The BIM software was developed among these new technologies, and it was quickly widespread throughout the world. In order to combine the facilities afforded by BIM to the perspectives of reducing energy consumption of buildings, this research aims to study the possible interoperability between BIM softwares and thermal and energy simulation softwares, focusing on EnergyPlus and Daysim. Two different methodologies were used for the analysis, using two building models with the climate of Viçosa - MG. The literature and the performed simulations identified which input data of Archicad could be inserted in EnergyPlus and which EnergyPlus outputs could be inserted in ARCHICAD model. Thus, it was found that 70% of the basic input data of EnergyPlus can be directly inserted in the thermal model usging ArchiCAD modeling. Later, the potential of interoperability between ArchiCAD and Daysim was analyzed by importing an ArchiCAD model in Daysim. The comparison of a model created in Sketchup (conventional method) and an identical model created in Archicad showed no significant differences in theis results. Therefore, it is concluded that the interoperability between energy simulation softwares and BIM is possible, although it still requires some adjustments.