Building energy systems, ie heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, are
essential for modern buildings. They provide a comfortable and healthy indoor environment …

A Discourse Model, including a structure and a process, is developed that provides software
support for collaborative engineering design. The model shares characteristics of other …

Distributed supervisory control is the monitoring and control of complex, dynamic, highly
automated systems by a team of human operators. As such, it is an example of a cooperative …

There have been many R&D efforts in recent years to develop computer environments that
directly enhance group problem-solving productivity. An example of such efforts is the …

Integrated intelligent building design systems (IIBDSs) are computer-based design
environments which will in the future be used by engineers and architects to assist them in …

Building and HVAC&R design professionals are being required to evaluate numerous
design alternatives and properly justify their final conceptual selection. This trend, coupled …

The typical HVAC&R design process generates several alternative solutions (configurations
of systems, subsystems and components), and then utilizes analysis and estimation tools to …

A Discourse Model, including a structure and a process, is developed that provides software
support for collaborative engineering design. Components of the structure include a …

In recent years productivity of the US construction industry has lagged behind other sectors
of the economy, resulting in higher costs of goods and services for all consumers …

INTRODUCTION 1 l Background For many years the impact of design decisions on the
overall performance of buildings had not been adequately considered. Due to increased …