This paper presents an overview of a 3-D graphical approach for improving the potential of building energy analyses using the DOE-2 computer program. The approach produces 3-D annual profiles from hourly data generated by DOE-2 simulations using a statistical plotting package for specific quantities of interest. The annual profiles of hourly data provide a useful graphical check of voluminous data in a condensed form, allowing several different types of data to be plotted over a year.

These profiles provide the user with the opportunity to check simulation results, check for potential problems with user input, provide graphs to customers who may want a simpler presentation, visualize interactions in simulations, and understand where inappropriate modeling conditions may exist in simulations. Future analysis, using such profiles, may allow methods to be developed to check consistency between simulations, check for potential hidden errors in modeling buildings, and better understand how simulations compare with data from real buildings.

Units: Dual