Influence of the Meteorological Record Length on the Generation of Representative Weather Files

Michele Libralato, Giovanni Murano, Alessandra De Angelis, Onorio Saro and Vincenzo Corrado
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Michele Libralato: Polytechnic Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi di Udine, 3100 Udine, Italy
Giovanni Murano: Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Alessandra De Angelis: Polytechnic Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi di Udine, 3100 Udine, Italy
Onorio Saro: Polytechnic Department of Engineering and Architecture, Università degli Studi di Udine, 3100 Udine, Italy
Vincenzo Corrado: Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: Heat and moisture (HM) transfer simulations of building envelopes and whole building energy simulations require adequate weather files. The common approach is to use weather data of reference years constructed from meteorological records. The weather record affects the capability of representing the real weather of the resulting reference years. In this paper the problem of the influence of the length of the records on the representativeness of the reference years is addressed and its effects are evaluated also for the applicative case of the moisture accumulation risk analysis with the Glaser Method and with DELPHIN 6, confirming that records shorter than 10 years could lead to less representative reference years. On the other hand, it is shown that reference years obtained from longer periods are not representative of the most recent years, which present higher dry-bulb air temperatures due to a short-term climate change effect observed in all the considered weather records. An alternative representative year (Moisture Representative Year) to be used in building energy simulations with a strong dependence on moisture is presented.

Keywords: weather files; building simulation; heat and moisture transfer; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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