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COMIS - Multizone Air Flow and Pollutant Simulation

Summary

COMIS (Conjunction of Multizone Infiltration Specialists) is a multizone airflow simulation program.          

Detailed description

Many modules are embedded into COMIS, from air flow components such as cracks, test data components, windows, doors, vertical apertures (2-way flow), ducts and duct fittings, fans, flow controllers to pollutant sources and occupants, plus the possibility of defining schedules attached to most of the components (e.g. closing and opening of windows in relation to inhabitant behavior). Thermostatic flow devices (flow resistance depending on the air flow temperature) can also be modeled. All these modules allow for various applications such as sizing of mechanical ventilation systems, effects of retrofitting measures on ventilation efficiency of buildings, transport of contaminants (between zones, but also from outside), ventilation effectiveness, pollutant removal efficiency, age of air, smoke propagation, assessment of ventilation heat losses, passive cooling, assessment of heat transport between zones.     
COMIS can be used with Simulation Studio, the powerful and convenient simulation environment of TRNSYS. The two programs can be coupled via this environment, thus allowing for coupled thermal and air flow studies.  

History

COMIS (Conjunction Of Multizone Infiltration Specialists) was developed in 1988-89 by ten scientists from nine countries, during a twelve-month workshop hosted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). It is based on the result of the International Energy Agencies (IEA) Annex 23. Annex 23 was supported between 1990 and 1996 by nine participating nations: Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and USA. Its objectives were to study the physical phenomena causing air flow and pollutant transport in multi zone buildings, develop numerical modules to be integrated in the COMIS multi zone air flow modeling system, and evaluate the COMIS code. Annex 23 was dissolved at the end of 1997. The official COMIS code was handed over to the Swiss agency EMPA in 1998, and recent versions (up to COMIS 3.2) have been developed in collaboration between EMPA and CSTB. It has been released as an open source project in 2011.