ABSTRACT
Energy simulation represents now a critical step of the building design process, but the integration between BIM authoring tools and simulation tools is still a source of issues and problems. Most simulation engines still require the definition of a specific input model, thus making impossible to directly use the BIM model information to configure and run simulations. The lack of agreements on standards for simulation input files makes software integration between BIM and simulation tools insufficient. With this aim, this paper presents a software framework for BIM-Simulation integration aiming at both effectiveness and extensibility. An intermediary conversion step for the generation of simulation-specific yet tool-agnostic building design model (here called Building Simulation Model) allows to tackle the problem through a two-step generation scheme (BIM-to-BSM and BSM-to-simulation tool) leveraging the principles of the Model-Driven Engineering methodology. Targeted engines have been EnergyPlus and COMETH (the French regulatory thermal engine) in the scope of an on-going European project (FP7 HOLISTEEC).
