GitHub - open-ideas/IDEAS: Modelica library allowing simultaneous transient simulation of thermal and electrical systems at both building and feeder level. (original) (raw)

v4.0.0

IDEAS is a Modelica library for Integrated District Energy Assessment Simulations. This free and open-source library enables simultaneous transient simulation of integrated thermal and electrical energy systems including buildings at both individual (building) and collective (district) level.

The IDEAS library extends from the Modelica IBPSA library and has a particular focus on the development of detailed building models. It is one of the four sister libraries that extend from the core Modelica IBPSA library, alongside AixLib, Modelica Buildings, and BuildingSystems.

License

IDEAS is licensed by KU Leuven and 3E under aBSD 3 license.

Community and contributions

We love to hear what you are using IDEAS for. You are welcome to open an issue on GitHub or contact the development team via email to share your feedback. If you like our library, you can support IDEAS by starring it at the top right of our Github page. Bug reports and feature suggestions can be submitted as GitHub issues, and contributions in the form of pull requests are highly encouraged. Before submitting a pull request, please consult the the IDEASStyle Guide and Conventionsto ensure consistency with the project's conventions.

The IDEAS library was originally developed by KU Leuven and 3E, and is currently developed and maintained by the Thermal Systems Simulation (The SySi) research group of KU Leuven. The library includes significant contributions by the Building Physics and Sustainable Design Sectionof KU Leuven, the Building Physics Research Groupof UGent, IBPSA project 1, IEA EBC Annex 60 and theElectrical Energy Systems and Applications Section of KU Leuven.

Tool support

IDEAS is largely compliant with the Modelica Specification, and is therefore, in principle, compatible with any simulation tool that supports this standard, such as Dymola or OpenModelica. However, as IDEAS is primarily developed and maintained in Dymola, and the unit testing framework is exclusively implemented in Dymola, certain compatibility issues with alternative tools may arise. Users are encouraged to report any deviations from the Modelica specification or tool-specific issues so that these can be addressed in future updates.

Unit testing

Unit testing is performed using Dymola in combination with BuildingsPy. Automated unit tests are executed via GitHub Actions, utilising a self-hosted runner maintained by KU Leuven. Further information on the IDEAS unit testing framework is available on the IDEAS Wiki.

Getting started

Two tutorials are provided in IDEAS.Examples.Tutorial, serving as demonstrations cases of how the IDEAS library can be used.

1. IDEAS.Examples.Tutorial.SimpleHouse contains examples with step-by-step instructions for how to build a system model for a simple house with a heating system, ventilation, and weather boundary conditions. This tutorial does not use the detailed IDEAS building envelope components, but instead includes a very simple Resistance-Capacitance (RC) model.
2. IDEAS.Examples.Tutorial.DetailedHouse contains examples with step-by-step instructions for how to build a system model for an office building (using the detailed building envelope component models within IDEAS.Buildings) with occupants, a radiator heating system connected to a heat pump, and a ventilation system.

Furthermore,

• IDEAS.Buildings.Examples and IDEAS.Buildings.Components.Examples contain examples focussing on the building models, including individual features, developed in this library.
• IDEAS.Examples.IBPSA collects some models used in BOPTEST.
• IDEAS.Examples.PPD12 is an example model of a terraced house, including a heating and ventilation system.
• IDEAS.Examples.TwinHouses is a model of the Holzkirchen twin house, used in a validation experiment.

See the documentation sections of the respective packages and models for more information.

Citing IDEAS

Please cite IDEAS using the reference provided below.

@article{Jorissen2018ideas,  
author = {Jorissen, Filip and Reynders, Glenn and Baetens, Ruben and Picard, Damien and Saelens, Dirk and Helsen, Lieve},  
journal = {Journal of Building Performance Simulation},    
title = {{Implementation and Verification of the IDEAS Building Energy Simulation Library}},  
volume = {11},
issue = {6},  
pages = {669-688},
doi={10.1080/19401493.2018.1428361},  
year = {2018}  
}

Release history

IDEAS v4.0.0 was released on August 20, 2025. Detailed release notes are available within the library under the following link:ReleaseNotes. Notes for the previous releases notes can also be found there.

Documentation

The IDEAS library offers comprehensive documentation. Each model includes a dedicated documentation section explaining its implementation details. Many models also reference relevant scientific papers. An overview of the key reference papers is provided in theReferences section of theUser's Guide.

Applications of IDEAS

IDEAS is widly used across various applications. To gain an overview of how the library has been applied, please consult thecitations of the reference paper.