Geometry extraction for high resolution building energy modelling applications from Point Cloud data: a case study of a factory facility

Tom Lloyd Garwood*, Ben Richard Hughes, Dominic O'Connor, John K Calautit, Michael R Oates, Thomas Hodgson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
19 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The industrial sector accounts for 17% of end-use energy in the UK, and 54% globally. Therefore, there is substantial scope for simulating and assessing potential energy retrofit options for industrial buildings. Building Energy Modelling (BEM) applied to industrial buildings poses a complex but important opportunity for reducing global energy demand, due to years of renovation and expansion. Large and complex industrial buildings make modelling existing geometry for BEM difficult and time consuming. This paper presents a potential solution for quickly capturing and processing as-built geometry of a factory to be utilized in BEM. Laser scans were captured from the interior of an industrial facility to produce a Point Cloud. The existing capabilities of a Point Cloud processing software were assessed to identify the potential development opportunities to automate the conversion of Point Clouds to building geometry for BEM applications. In conclusion, scope exists for increasing the speed of 3D geometry creation of an existing industrial building for application in BEM and subsequent thermal simulation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1805-1810
Number of pages6
JournalEnergy Procedia
Volume142
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Dec 2017
Event9th International Conference on Applied Energy, ICAE 2017 - Cardiff, United Kingdom
Duration: 21 Aug 201724 Aug 2017

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial contribution provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and BMW, as well as resources from the AMRC Factory 2050 and the University of Sheffield’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, that has enabled this production of this paper.

Keywords

  • building energy modelling
  • industrial energy demand
  • manufacturing
  • Point Cloud
  • thermal simulation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Geometry extraction for high resolution building energy modelling applications from Point Cloud data: a case study of a factory facility'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this