ETA 2021 Strategic Plan - Flipbook - Page 15
test and evaluate data resolutions and exchange
schemes and their impact on simulation
results and computing time. Extensions include
computational solutions such as the use of
graphics processing units, as well as approaches
such as fast fluid dynamics that enable detailed
modeling of airflow, temperature, and pollutants
around individual buildings in an urban area or
entire city. Analogous extensibility work will be
pursued for the full suite of existing tools that
will be leveraged within the focus area.
data on performance during hazardous events.
While some of these data will be obtained under
the Metrics and Measurement focus area, they are
difficult to collect due to the need for industry
partnerships and the acute nature of most
extreme events. New approaches for validating
models also must be developed.
Empirical methods will form the primary
approach to test and validate the newly
developed modeling and prediction solutions.
There may be a limited set of analytical methods
that can be applied to bound model behavior
at the extremes. The sensing and monitoring
networks from the Metrics and Measurement
focus area will provide the environmental data
(e.g., outdoor air temperature, humidity, wind
speed and direction, solar radiation, carbon
dioxide, and fine particulate) and infrastructure
operational data (e.g., occupancy/usage levels,
energy use, indoor environmental quality, and
power state) necessary to validate the simulated
results. Over time, this dataset will grow, and
is expected to include information collected
before, during, and after specific stressor events.
In addition, it may be possible to conduct
experiments to emulate conditions of certain
modest severity stressors at the ~10-meter scale.
To address the technology and process
related research and development scope, we
will integrate outputs of both the Metrics and
Measurement and Modeling, Prediction, and
Simulation focus areas. Target values of key
resilience metrics will be applied in conjunction
with integrated modeling solutions to inform
specific system performance and materials
property requirements — for example, façade
systems that meet a defined range of passive
thermal conductivity and thermal capacity.
In addition to infrastructure and environmental
models, it is necessary to develop technoeconomic analyses and life-cycle assessment
frameworks to predict the net impact and cost
of deploying emerging and existing technologies
guide investments and technology development
activities in the Technology and Process at
Scale focus area. Validating these models and
understanding the extent to which they are
generalizable across communities, space,
and time will require partnerships with early
adopters of technologies and “before and after”
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Technologies and Processes at Scale
The modeling investigations will provide
additional insight into the stressors for which
intelligent and adaptive materials will be most
valuable. A comprehensive assessment of novel
existing and emerging materials will uncover
promising solutions to pursue for integration
into mass construction and technology
integration processes.
For system-level technology solutions, the
system performance targets will form the basis
of a development approach that focuses on
integration of buildings’: (1) electrical, thermal,
control and information systems; (2) proven
technologies for energy storage and conversion
across different carriers; (3) adaptive modelpredictive control strategies that modulate
between normal grid-interactive operations and
resilience modes, including continuous transition
states between the two; and (4) modular power
electronic systems that can efficiently integrate
local renewables and storage in a scalable way.
The control and information systems that
host these strategies will be integrated with
an urban digital layer, drawing on the sensor
network data from Metrics and Measurement.
This urban digital layer will be based on an
urban ontological representation that links
sensor data, machine learning, and digital
twins. Integration with the Modeling and
Prediction focus area outputs will provide
predictive disaster simulation capabilities
to emergency response teams so they can
devise community response strategies. To
this end, agent-based modeling (ABM) is a
promising approach that will be explored
to simulate dynamic and diverse behaviors
of humans, infrastructure, and their
interactions and decision-making process.
Finally, techno-economic models from
Modeling and Prediction will be applied to
derive scalable system technology solutions,
adapted to local climate, renewable
energy sources and storage, and urban
morphology. Metrics and valuation concepts
from Metrics and Measurement will be
incorporated into these analyses to identify
cost-effective pathways to scale.
Proof-of-concept stressor and scenariospecific solutions will be developed and
tested in laboratory and limited-scale
field tests. For instance, the Berkeley Lab
campus has interest in exploring the use
of distributed energy assets and load
control strategies to improve operational
continuity during public safety power
shutoffs. In partnership with industry
stakeholders these solutions will be tested
and vetted for broader scale generalizability,
and transferred for market uptake. This
transition is further illustrated in the
Milestones section.
Partners
Partnerships will be critical to meeting the
technical objectives of this initiative and
its associated impact goals. The sensing
component of the Metrics and Measurement
focus area will require collaboration with
research institutions actively exploring
environmental monitoring and structural
resilience of infrastructure. The valuation
component will benefit from partnership
with entities such as financial and real estate
investors.
The Modeling, Prediction, and Simulation focus
area will primarily entail partnering with
modelers from the environmental sciences,
to develop robust coupling mechanisms
and extensions necessary to address the
infrastructure resilience problem space.
An array of partners will be engaged for the
Technologies and Processes at Scale focus
area. Partners will include representatives
from state and municipal governments
who make resilience policy decisions and
public infrastructure investment decisions,
commercial and residential building owners.
They also will include the architecture and
engineering firms, as well as controls and
technology firms, who design, specify, and
deliver building technologies and distributed
energy resources. The materials component
of the Technologies and Processes at Scale
focus area will entail partnership with both
academia and industry, to further develop
and scale promising yet nascent solutions.
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