1. Getting Started — Buildings Library User Guide

# 1. Getting Started

## 1.1. Literature for Users

The following books are useful for new users to get started:

- The online book with interactive examples of Michael Tiller at http://book.xogeny.com/.
- The books by Michael Tiller [Til2001] and Peter Fritzson ([Fri2011] and [Fri2004]).
- The tutorials that are listed at https://www.modelica.org/publications.

Although the Modelica Language Tutorial is for an older version (Modelica 1.4), it is still instructive and relevant to understand the concepts of the language.

Links to papers that describe or used the Buildings library are available at http://simulationresearch.lbl.gov/modelica/publications.html. The model documentation from the download page contains user guides that describe the individual packages of the Buildings library.

## 1.2. Literature for Developers

It is essential that users who develop new thermo-fluid models to understand the concept of stream connectors. Stream connectors are explained in the Modelica language definition, available at https://www.modelica.org/documents, and in the paper Franke et al. [Fra2009a]. The Buildings library uses similar modeling principles, and the same base classes, as the Modelica.Fluid library. Hence, we also recommend reading the paper about the standardization of thermo-fluid models in Modelica.Fluid [Fra2009b].

Xogeny’s Modelica Web Reference gives a concise overview, explanation and further links about the Modelica language.

## 1.3. Software Requirements

Check the software requirements for the different versions of the Buildings library at http://simulationresearch.lbl.gov/modelica/download.html

## 1.4. Running the First Simulations

To start using Modelica, run the example models of the Buildings library. Make variations in these examples by changing values of model parameters or by replacing existing component models by new ones. The example models can be found in the packages Examples, and detailed tutorials with step-by-step instructions for how to build system models can be found in the Tutorial package.

Note that heat transfer models, which can be found in Buildings.HeatTransfer.*.Examples are easier to understand than fluid flow models because;

- handling fluid flow adds more complexity due to flow reversal (i.e., if the mass flow rate changes its direction),
- fluid flow models may need to handle multiple species such as air and water vapor, as well as trace substances such as CO2, and
- fluid flow models use packages that define medium models, such as dry air, moist air, water or other fluids.

## 1.5. References

[Fri2004] | Peter Fritzson. Principles of Object-Oriented Modeling and Simulation with Modelica 2.1. John Wiley & Sons, 2004.

[Fri2011] | Peter Fritzson. Introduction to Modeling and Simulation of Technical and Physical Systems with Modelica. Wiley-IEEE Press, ISBN 978-1-1180-1068-6, 2011.

[Fra2009a] | Franke, F. Casella, M. Otter, M. Sielemann, H. Elmqvist, S. E. Mattsson, and H. Olsson. Stream connectors – an extension of modelica for device-oriented modeling of convective transport phenomena. In F. Casella, editor, Proc. of the 7-th International Modelica Conference, Como, Italy, Sept. 2009.

[Fra2009b] | Franke, F. Casella, M. Otter, K. Proelss, M. Sielemann, and M. Wetter. Standardization of thermo-fluid modeling in Modelica.Fluid. In F. Casella, editor, Proc. of the 7-th International Modelica Conference, Como, Italy, Sept. 2009.

[Til2001] | Michael M. Tiller. Introduction to Physical Modeling with Modelica. Kluwer Academic Publisher, 2001.