ANALYSIS OF AN UNDERGROUND CELLAR THERMAL BEHAVIOR BASED ON ENERGY SIMULATIONS

The present study aims to assess the suitability of a non-conditioned underground room to keep and preserve the wine. In the last years simulation software helped the professional to predict temperature trends in aboveground buildings. Usually calculation precision and accuracy is not guaranteed for underground rooms. In order to assess suitability in underground rooms, this work calibrate an ad-hoc model and use it for the temperature prediction. Specifically the work, based on an Italian case-study, evaluates three models of the same underground cellar for predicting surface and air temperature trends. The differences among models came from different hypothesis of ground data availability. The results returned by EnergyPlus simulations are compared to case-study monitored data and undergo a procedure of validation and acceptability. The work shows the three model simulations are reliable and return acceptable results according to the proposed method, demonstrating moreover EnergyPlus program can be used also for heat exchange between ground and building. Finally the best fitting model have been used to predict room temperature trends throughout one solar year.