Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Combining physics-based and data-driven modeling for building energy systems
 
research article

Combining physics-based and data-driven modeling for building energy systems

Von Krannichfeldt, Leandro  
•
Orehounig, Kristina
•
Fink, Olga  
August 1, 2025
Applied Energy

Building energy modeling plays a vital role in optimizing the operation of building energy systems by providing accurate predictions of the building's real-world conditions. In this context, various techniques have been explored, ranging from traditional physics-based models to data-driven models. Recently, researchers are combining physics-based and data-driven models into hybrid approaches. This includes using the physics-based model output as additional data-driven input, learning the residual between physics-based model and real data, learning a surrogate of the physics-based model, or fine-tuning a surrogate model with real data. However, a comprehensive comparison of the inherent advantages of these hybrid approaches is still missing. The primary objective of this work is to evaluate four predominant hybrid approaches in building energy modeling through a real-world case study, with focus on indoor thermodynamics. To achieve this, we devise three scenarios reflecting common levels of building documentation and sensor availability, assess their performance, and analyze their explainability using hierarchical Shapley values. The real-world study reveals three notable findings. First, greater building documentation and sensor availability lead to higher prediction accuracy for hybrid approaches. Second, the performance of hybrid approaches depends on the type of building room, but the residual approach using a Feedforward Neural Network as data-driven sub-model performs best on average across all rooms. This hybrid approach also demonstrates a superior ability to leverage the simulation from the physics-based sub-model. Third, hierarchical Shapley values prove to be an effective tool for explaining and improving hybrid models while accounting for input correlations.

  • Files
  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125853
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-105002846044

Author(s)
Von Krannichfeldt, Leandro  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Orehounig, Kristina

Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

Fink, Olga  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Date Issued

2025-08-01

Published in
Applied Energy
Volume

391

Article Number

125853

Subjects

Building energy modeling

•

Hybrid modeling

•

Temperature prediction

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
IMOS  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Empa research & development grant

Available on Infoscience
April 29, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/249525
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés