Extending and Formalizing the Energy Signature Method for Calibrating Simulations and Illustrating with Application for Three California Climates

This thesis extends and formalizes the energy signature method developed by Wei et al. (1998) for the rapid calibration of cooling and heating energy consumption simulations for commercial buildings. This method is based on the use of "calibration signatures" which characterize the difference between measured and simulated performance.
By creating a library of shapes for certain known errors, clues can be provided to the analyst to use in identifying what simulation input errors may be causing the discrepancies. These are referred to as "characteristic signatures". In this thesis, sets of characteristic signatures are produced for the climates typified by Pasadena, Sacramento and Oakland, California for each of the four major system types: single-duct variable-air-volume, single-duct constant-volume, dual-duct variable-air-volume and dual-duct constant-volume.
A detailed step-by-step description is given for the proposed methodology, and two examples and a real-world case study serve to illustrate the use of the signature method.