Bidirectional coupling of Building Information Modeling and Building Simulation using ontologies

Building performance simulation can contribute to necessary energy savings in the buildings sector when applied early in the design phase. A major obstacle to put that into operation is the cumbersome task of model preparation, although significant simplification is anticipated by the adoption of BIM in the design phase. In this paper a workflow is shown for the bidirectional coupling of IFC and Modelica simulation models based on semantic tools (also facilitating the BRICK ontology). Bidirectionality allows for better integration in the building design workflow as it enables iterative approaches. A show case is made for an air handling system.