Large Scale Post-Simulation Data Processing and Visualization for Building Energy Analysis

In the pursuit of integrated design and with the advent of advanced tools, it has become widespread in the building simulation community to generate big data sets that provide extensive information about potential design options. Design options are analyzed using parametric simulations to evaluate pathways to achieve project targets. Current parametric tools can batch process building energy simulations and compile the results into a single result file. However, they are not featured to incorporate customized post-simulation data-processing or data visualization.
This paper presents a method of using scripting tools to perform post-simulation data processing on large-scale simulations sets that are run through EnergyPlus engine. The powerful combination of parametric simulation and post-simulation data processing pushes the limitations of simulation tools and gives practitioners the flexibility to customize their simulation results and data visualization based on specific project needs. Scripting tools can significantly reduce the time needed for post-simulation calculation on large scale simulation sets while reducing the risk of errors.