The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word ‘simulation’ as follows,

“The technique of imitating the behaviour of some situation or process (whether economic, military, mechanical, etc.) by means of a suitably analogous situation or apparatus”

In the various forms of Building Simulation we seek to mimic the thermal, fluid, electrical or lighting processes that occur during building use. Our ‘apparatus’ for doing this are computer Building Simulation tools. There is an ever widening range of types of Building Simulation. The simulation of building physical processes such as smoke and fire, contaminant flow, elevators and escalators, electrical distribution systems and many others are also of interest to IBPSA members. You can find an introduction to Building Simulation along with a lot of other information at the Wiki ‘Simupedia’ developed by IBPSA-Germany at http://129.187.44.165/index.php/Simupedia/en