A gbXML Reconstruction Workflow and Tool Development to Improve the Geometric Interoperability between BIM and BEM

The BIM-based building energy simulation plays an important role in sustainable design on the track of achieving the net-zero carbon building stock by 2050. However, the issues on BIM-BEM interoperability make the design process inefficient and less automatic. The insufficient semantic information may lead to results inaccurate while the error-prone geometry will terminate the simulation engine. Defective models and authoring tools lagging behind the standard often cause failures in creating a clean geometry that is acceptable to the simulation engine. This project aims to develop a workflow that helps with the documentation of a lightweight geometry in gbXML format. The implemented workflow bypasses the modeling inaccuracies and irrelevant details by reconstructing the model based on extrusions on patched floor plans. Compared with other gbXML files exported by BIM authoring tools, the resulting gbXML is more lightweight with airtight space boundaries. The gbXML has been further tested against EnergyPlus to demonstrate its capability in aiding a seamless geometry exchange between BIM and BEM.

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