Table of Contents
Development history and
acknowledgements
About this User Guide
Section One: General
description of ESP-r
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of ESP-r
1.2 Structure of ESP-r
1.3 Machine environment
1.4 System documentation
1.5 Further information
Section Two: A guide to
effective system use
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Simulation strategy
2.2 General details of program operation
2.3 Data file management
Section Three: Exercises
3.0 Introduction
3.1 List of exercises
Section Four: Example
applications
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Parametric studies
4.2 Upgrading strategy
4.3 The issue of cost
4.4 Innovatory design
4.5 Low energy housing
4.6 Re-design
4.7 Critical control
4.8 Feasibility study
4.9 Late design-stage use
4.10 Comfort
4.11 Speculative development
4.12 Training Exemplars
4.12.1 Single office
4.12.2 Simple building
4.12.3 Small house
4.12.4 Large house
4.12.5 Test cells
4.12.6 Special focus
4.12.7 Office block
4.12.8 Plant
Section Five: Theoretical
basis and validity
5.0 Introduction
5.1 Theoretical basis
5.2 Validity
5.3 Model value
Appendices
Summary of ESP-r’s
Data Model
ESP-r Implementation Procedures
Good Practice Guide for ESP-r Developers
List of ESP-r References
Adding Models to ESP-r
The ESP-r system has evolved to its present form over more then two decades. From 1974 to 1977 Joe Clarke developed the initial prototype as part of his doctoral research. Then, over the period 1977 to 1980, with funding from the (then) UK Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC), ESP-r was refined in a number of respects: the system was reorganised and documented, validation trials commenced, multi-zone processing was implemented and a graphics orientated user interface was established. From 1981 through 1986 Professor Clarke was joined by Dr Don McLean and, with further funding from SERC and from the CEC, ESP-r’s capabilities were extended by the addition of dynamic plant simulation, the inclusion of building air flow modelling, a move to low cost Unix TM workstation technology and the installation of expert system primitives.
In 1987, the Energy Simulation Research Unit (ESRU) was formed to address the problems confronting the further evolution of building energy and environmental simulation. As part of its research portfolio, ESRU has continued to evolve ESP-r - most notably within the framework of the UK Department of Energy’s (now Trade and Industry) Passive Solar Programme, the CEC’s PASSYS project (a 10 member country concerted action in Passive Solar Architecture), a SERC funded project to establish an intelligent front-end for the package and within a number of ongoing projects concerned with plant and control simulation. These activities ensured that ESP-r continued to evolve, in terms of further validation, technical extensions and user interface improvements.
Over the past two decades many individuals have made valuable contributions to ESP-r developments. The most important of these have come from our research colleagues at the University of Strathclyde who have contributed much in the way of computational methods and technical support. In particular we are indebted to Tom Maver, Harvey Sussock, Alan Bridges, Don Stearn and Iain Forrest (all presently or previously of ABACUS). One other colleague springs readily to mind: Damian Mac Randal, now a project leader within the Informatics Department at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He was the driving force behind our move to Unix workstations.
We also extend our thanks to several other individuals: to Fred Winklemann of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory who helped to develop ESP-r’s time-step control mechanism; to Cor Pernot of the FAGO group in Eindhoven who installed ESP-r’s comfort routines and continues to take an active interest in the system; to Jeremy Cockroft, who worked on the original air flow solver upon which we have built over the years; to Dr Dechao Tang, Dr Essam Aasem, Dr Abdullatif Nakhi, Dr Cezar Negrao and Dr Tin-tai Chow, all formerly PhD students at ESRU, who worked on ESP-r’s plant, moisture flow and CFD algorithms.
At the present time the researchers actively involved in ESP-r developments at ESRU include Joe Clarke, Jon Hand, Jan Hensen, Milan Janak, Cameron Johnstone, Nick Kelly, Iain Macdonald, Paul Strachan.
We assume that the user is familiar with some of the more elementary Unix/Linux commands and is able to use a Unix/Linux workstation. The main purpose of this User Guide is to introduce a new user of ESP-r to the system and to provide training guidance.
Note that ESP-r has extensive in-built tutorial and help facilities which can be consulted throughout the system familiarisation process. Detailed information may also be found in ESRU’s World-Wide-Web pages <http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk> and in the Appendices to this User Guide which cover the system’s data requirements, operational details, worked examples, adding new features to ESP-r, developers good practice guide, implementation procedure and software structure.
This User Guide only comprises the essential reading material for the first time user of ESP-r, organised in the following sections:
1 |
Outline of the system structure and examples of the types of design questions ESP-r can be used to answer. | |
2 |
General guidance on how to make effective use of the system. | |
3 |
A series of consecutive exercises allowing the first time user to become familiar with - and appreciate - the comprehensive features of the system. | |
4 |
A number of short case study descriptions illustrating the use of ESP-r in practice. | |
5 |
Some information and references on the theoretical basis and validity of the system. |