Faculty and Student Teams Program

Project Descriptions

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Electricity Resources and Building Systems Integration Center

Applying Sensitivity Analysis to Energy Efficient Building Design Optimization

Project Description

Building energy modeling requires many input parameters. One must specify the building’s geometry, construction materials, HVAC equipment, number of occupants, operating schedules, controls, etc. to calculate an estimate of annual energy use. In almost all modeling contexts, many of these parameters are highly uncertain, that is, their actual values are only known to within 5 to 50% of the nominal value.

When the concern is a single building simulation, the impact of uncertain inputs can be estimated using perturbation or sensitivity analysis techniques to estimate the effects of input variations on important outputs. The situation is less clear in the context of building design optimization. This project seeks novel and adapted methods for using perturbation and sensitivity analysis in building design optimization problems where the metrics of interest are measured relative to a baseline design. Questions of interest that the team may address include:

1. How should uncertainty information be propagated when the metric of interest is the difference between a baseline building and a candidate building, rather than an absolute value?
2. How does input uncertainty affect the design perturbations chosen by a given search algorithm?

Applicants Responsibilities and Relationship to Projects

Applicants will receive support under the Department of Energy Faculty Student Team Research Program (FaST) to work collaboratively with the project research team at NREL for up to 10 weeks during the summer starting in June.  Summer and academic year visits by NREL will be schedule by mutual agreement between the Research Project Managers at NREL and the successful applicant.  Faculty will be expected to identify students from the campus to participate in the FaST program offered by the Department of Energy at NREL. Faculty will provide mentorship and/or advising support to students during the summer research activities.  It is expected that the Faculty member will become an integral part of the research team working on this project and will support the project through the academic year on his or her campus.

Qualifications of Ideal Candidate

Faculty: Engineering or applied mathematics Ph.D. with experience in optimization, statistics, dynamical systems, or numerical analysis.  Works well in a collaborative environment with students and other researchers.  Currently teaches and collaborates with students in his/her field.  Possess good written and verbal communication skills.  Willing to work at NREL for an extended period during the summer.

Students:  Working towards an undergraduate degree in engineering, one of the mathematical sciences, or computer science, with an active interest in systems engineering, optimization, statistics, or scientific computing.  Works well in collaboration with faculty, other students, and researchers. Possesses good written and verbal communications skills.  Willing to work at NREL for an extended period during the summer.

Support and Financial Commitments

See Financial Information.

For More Information contact: