LiDAR point-cloud mapping of building façades for building energy performance simulation

Abstract

Current processes that create Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS) models are time consuming and costly, primarily due to the extensive manual inputs required for model population. In particular, generation of geometric inputs for existing building models requires significant manual intervention due to the absence, or outdated nature of available data or digital measurements. Additionally, solutions based on Building Information Modelling (BIM) also require high quality and precise geometrically-based models, which are not typically available for existing buildings. As such, this work introduces a semi-automated BEPS input solution for existing building exteriors that can be integrated with other related technologies (such as BIM or CityGML) and deployed across an entire building stock. Within the overarching approach, a novel sub-process automatically transforms a point cloud obtained from a terrestrial laser scanner into a representation of a building's exterior façade geometry as input data for a BEPS engine.

A Fast Method for Identifying Room Configurations from Unit Boundaries in Existing Residential Buildings

“…For extracting peaks from the point distribution, we create histograms following the steps proposed by Okorn et al [20]. For opening detection, we applied the method proposed by O'Donnell et al [21]. The 2D regions of the vertical planes are divided into regular cells with marks indicating their geometries and properties.…”

Digital twin and its implementations in the civil engineering sector

“…Dore and Murphy [34] devised a new semi-automatic approach for generating accurate BIM facade models for as-is buildings from laser and image data based on two developments. O'Donnell, et al [88] converted point clouds from a laser scanner into a building's exterior façade geometry as input data to establish Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS) models and carried on semantic enrichment manually. Laefer and Truong-Hong [62] proposed a method to automatically identify steel structure components from terrestrial laser scan point clouds to generate geometric shapes in a BIM compatible format.…”

Contribution of New Digital Technologies to the Digital Building Logbook

“…The point clouds generated by ALS and TLS are usually accompanied by hundreds of ultra-high-resolution images and, with these elements, after a transformation process where the raw data must be converted into readable data and imported into a modelling software, it is possible to generate the architectural survey of a building, to create a high-quality 3D model or to generate the georeferenced Building Information Modelling (BIM) of a property. Additionally, O'Donnell et al [34] identified the potential of LiDAR to be integrated with Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS) software.…”