Question-and-Answer Resource for the Building Energy Modeling Community
 | 1 | initial version |
Although I would not recommend using the InternalMass object to model changes in thermal mass for floors (and ceilings for multi-floor buildings), I guess you could model certain aspects of building materials using this method.
From the Input Output Reference document:
InternalMass is used to specify the construction/material parameters and
area of items within the space that are important to heat transfer
calculations but not necessarily important geometrically. (For example,
furniture within the space - particularly for large spaces). Internal mass
can also be used for internal walls that are not needed (when
FullInteriorAndExterior Solar Distribution is in effect) for solar
distribution or to represent many, if not all, interior walls when solar
is distributed to the floors only.
In this case, the use of Lighting Level or Equipment Level can be used to model internal gains. Since, for a given building model, the floor area is fixed, changing the internal loads input from W per floor area to W is not an impediment to the model.
