ETLV

SCSE ACTIVITY : SIMULATION OF AN ENERGETIC PERFORMANCE

DIAGNOSIS (DPE) OF A DETACHED HOUSE
Context:

A real estate construction group with many different types of detached houses is seeking the DPE of
one of its new single-storey building designs.

You are commissioned, as the technician in charge of this project to perform the DPE diagnosis of this
model according to the heating mode required, several heating scenarios will be tested.

The simulation of the DPE diagnostic will be carried thanks to the software «Archimist»

The model studied is an individual dwelling type bungalow on a crawl space: see doc. 1/3 to 3/3
“dwelling unit characteristics”.

Work request:
1 – Launch the Archimist software.

Archimist is a software that allows to simulate a DPE according to the plan of the house, it calculates
in real time the thermal balance according to a given heating mode, as well as the consumption and the
annual cost of heating. It allows to simulate and to compare different heating scenarios.

Click on “Project” and then “New”, complete the different fields in the
window following the description given in the document “Characteristics
of the dwelling unit”. We will suppose the house is located in our area.

2 – You will notice that there are 3 tabs: Crawl Space,

Ground Floor and Attic, click on the GF tab.

In the graphic area, start by building the exterior walls of

the house using the tool load-bearing wall (let this for now
the default wall configuration: hard limestone – 0.4m sp).

You should get the following result:

Rmk: The Wall’s lengths can be entered into the

corresponding field or set directly to the mouse.
Make sure you have a closed contour and a single piece
created.

Save your project under your name.

3 – We will now make the interior partitions: click on wall then “new composition”, choose the red
color, this time reduce the thickness to 0.1m (the partitions are thinner than the exterior walls) but
leave the default composition: hard limestone, then draw the interior partitions according to the
simplified plan given below.

In the end, there will be 2 types of walls: the outer walls in blue and the partitions in red. The
composition of the walls can be easily modified by selecting a wall of one of the 2 categories; the
modification will be automatically reflected on all the walls of the same color.

The dimensions are given only for information, try to

respect them approximately because the thickness of
the walls is not taken into account. The most important
is to get the surface of the room as close as possible to
the original plan (see doc. «Characteristics of the
dwelling unit»), this surface is visible in a field at the top
left when you click on the floor of a room, and walls can
be moved by dragging them with the mouse.
To «connect» the walls together extend the first one
until it reaches the second one, with the mouse slightly.
Some walls (useless for simulation) have been removed.

You should obtain the following result:

4 – Adding windows and doors: click on opening and

place windows and doors as described in the doc.
“Characteristics of the Dwelling Unit”. Size and position
do not matter, the most important is the surface of the
element and its material. Place them according to the
doc. “Characteristics of the Dwelling Unit”

You should get the following result:

The drawing of the house plan is now completed.

We will be able to perform the DPE simulation.
The outside temperature is by default -9°C.
The house is heated by electric radiators in each room (except the garage, the toilet and the dressing
room); we will simulate this first scenario.

5 - Add an autonomous electric radiator in each room: click

on boiler in “type” choose “autonomous radiator” and in
“energy” choose “electricity”. In Archimist a "boiler" means a
source of heat.

Place a first radiator in the living room: you can immediately

see the missing power that would be needed to obtain the
temperature of the thermostat.

Do the same for each room of the house (except the garage,
the toilet and the dressing room).

Note the results provided by the software.

6 – Modify the composition and thickness of the walls according

to doc. “Characteristics of the dwelling unit”.
The partitions will be composed of expanded polystyrene
thickness 0,1m and gypsum plasterboard BA13.

Change the composition of the floor and ceiling according to the

doc. “Dwelling Unit Features”: select floor or ceiling at the top of
the window.

Watch as the DPE label changes as it changes… it needs to

improve!

Note the results provided by the software.

7 - Optimize the radiators to reach the set temperature (19°C) in all rooms: do not change the default
characteristics of the radiators (95% efficiency, irradiation 1000 W/m2) but increase (or decrease)
their power. Don’t change the power above 300 W to obtain the default thermostat temperature
(19°C) in each heated room.
Does the DPE change when the radiator power is changed? Why?

8 – Let’s simulate an extreme low outside temperature: in

the menu click on "Parameters/heating scenario" set an
outside temperature of -15°C then click on OK.
Is the power of your radiators enough to keep the house
temperature at 19°C in all rooms? Does the DPE change?

9 – Increase the thermostat temperature by 1°C in all rooms (click

on the floor of a room and increase the set temperature to 20°C).
Note the results.

Observe the annual extra cost for a 1°C rise in the thermostat.
We will now simulate a central oil heating system with the
same conditions: -15°C outside and 20°C inside.
Remove all radiators from the house.

Place a boiler with oil, dimensions 0.5x0.5x0.5, yield 88%, and

irradiation 1000W/m2 in the cellar. Click on radiator and put
radiators (cast iron 2 columns) connected to the boiler in all
rooms (except the garage, the toilet and the dressing room).

If necessary, increase the radiator dimensions so that the temperature of 20°C is reached in all
heated rooms.

10 – Change the energy of the boiler (fuel, gas, electricity, wood) and look for the solution giving the
best DPE with the lowest cost for the inhabitant.

11 – Same question as before with a wood stove (pellets) placed in the living room (then remove the
radiator from the living room because the stove radiates the heat itself and it is sufficient)

12 - Replace the previous stove with an electrically operated

heat pump located outside the house (see opposite) that
supplies underfloor heating throughout the house.

13 – Which heating solution would you use for your home as

part of the software simulation?

14 – Based on your research on BBC houses, modify the composition of the walls, ceiling, and floor of
the house to obtain the best DPE possible.
Vocabulary:

single-storey building (= a one floor or one level building)

to heat= to warm / to make hot
required (= necessary, needed)
dwelling (= place of residence)
crawl space (= vide-sanitaire)
to allow (= enable/ make possible)
attic= just below the or under the roof/ top of the building
load-bearing wall (= the one that helps supporting the whole structure
thickness (thick is the opposite of thin
outer (= outside)
easily ( easy opposite of hard)
taken into account ( taken into consideration).
dragging ( moving)
removed = taken away
ceiling (= above our heads)
increase (= make bigger) (or decrease (= make smaller/ to lower)
above (= higher in position than)
extra (= additional, added)
provided=offered/given
gypsum plasterboard= plaque de platre