Software component architecture for co-simulation applied to the coupling between a building's thermal envelope and its inhabitant behaviour

This paper proposes a co-simulation architecture based on software component standard. It proposes a pattern to unify the co-simulation interfaces of several building energy simulation tools. It will thus facilitate and generalize the establishment of a co-simulation. Advantages of this strategy are highlighted through the coupling between the software COMFIE for thermal envelope simulation and the tool BRAHMS for occupant behaviour simulator, in the Matlab/Simulink environment. Linking these two tools is essential to take profit from their specific skills in each area and ensure a detailed simulation of both precise physical models and computational models of human cognitive abilities. This is needed to ensure an efficient building control taking into account the complexity of this system.