Quality analysis of the air flow obtained from the simulation of solar chimneys using EnergyPlus

Solar Chimneys are devices that have a potential to promote air changes, with air renovation and savings in the building energy budget. This paper presents an analysis of the statistic results of two methodologies used to simulate the stack effect in EnergyPlus: results obtained from CFD simulation were used to compare and analyze two other methodologies of EnergyPlus, using the Thermal Chimney model and Airflow Network. The simulations were based on the Brise-Chaminé-Solar built prototype which validated the CFD simulations. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the average hourly difference, BoxPlot and Scatter charts were used for the results processing. The conclusion pointed out that the best statistical indicators for analyzing airflows were the RMSE and the Scatter chart, rather the combination of both.