Elements: A Convergent Physics-based and Data-driven Computing Platform for Building Modeling

Building modeling is used to establish computational models of their physical characteristics, indoor environments and energy use with external weather conditions acting as inputs. An accurate building model supports a variety of downstream applications, such as smart building management, retrofit analysis, and decarbonization. Current building modeling practice uses either physics-based and data-driven approaches. Physics-based methods model building dynamics using physical principles, which are sound and reliable, yet often have to compromise accuracy due to high computational cost, limited mechanistic rules, and incomplete input information. Data-driven approaches are computationally efficient and offer flexibility, but they lack interpretability and often are difficult to extrapolate, which hinders their field applications. This project proposes to overcome these gaps by developing a novel cyberinfrastructure with an advanced integration mechanism to fulfill convergent physics-based and data-driven modeling. Research outcomes intend to enable accurate and computationally efficient building modeling in practice, and thereby benefit many relevant applications whose goals are a sustainable and resilient built environment. Education and outreach activities, including interdisciplinary curriculum development, minority and K12 student engagement, are closely integrated into specific research activities. This project will conduct unique, interdisciplinary research to design novel mechanisms that unify physics-based and data-driven modeling approaches. The project first plans to investigate and understand discrepancies between building models at different fidelities and actual measurements. Based upon developed understanding, several machine learning residual models and Neural Ordinary Differential Equations are developed to integrate physics-based and data-driven models. A flexible and easy-to-use cyberinfrastructure, including user interface layers and modeling layers, will be developed as an open-source platform to support convergent building modeling practice. The modeling framework and cyberinfrastructure are validated using field measurements from multiple resources. This project makes fundamental contributions to the building modeling field, as well as other engineering domains using diverse modeling approaches. This award by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure is jointly supported by the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (ENG/CBET) and the Division of Civil, Mechanical & Manufacturing Innovation (ENG/CMMI). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.