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Abstract

Computer simulations, which can model the operation of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning plant in buildings, generally have lengthy execution times when they are used to generate long-term measures of performance. This investigation has established the feasibility of using a stochastic model, based on Markov chains, wich preserves the dynamic nature of the problem but offers reduced execution time. There is a trade-off between reduction in execution time and the accuracy of the simulation. A simulation enabled a simple combined building/plant model to be run in both Markov and conventional (time-series) modes, thus permitting a direct performance comparison. It was found possible to obtain significant reduction in execution times by running a Markov model without incurring unacceptable inaccuracies. The technique was considered to be worthy of further development in the context of plant simulation.

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