Automating the interpretation of building energy simulations: A visual analytics workflow with BEPVis

The interpretation of building energy simulation results remains a critical challenge as Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS) datasets continue to increase in scale and complexity. This study presents BEPVis, an open-source visual analytics tool designed to support the post-processing, interpretation, and diagnosis of EnergyPlus simulation outputs. The tool automates the ingestion and structuring of raw simulation data and integrates multiple visualization types within a coherent and interactive workflow, improving clarity and supporting expert analytical reasoning.
A comparative expert evaluation was conducted against EnergyPlus Results Viewer and DView. Quantitative results, analyzed using non-parametric statistical tests (Friedman and Wilcoxon), revealed statistically significant differences across all evaluated visualization tasks, with BEPVis consistently achieving the highest performance scores. Qualitative feedback further highlighted the benefits of a coherent visual language, the integration of comfort-related thresholds, and reduction in cognitive load during energy performance analysis.
By streamlining the post-processing and interpretation of simulation outputs, BEPVis contributes to more efficient, reproducible, and decision-oriented building energy analysis, facilitating energy performance assessment and optimization. The tool is openly available to support adoption and further development within the building energy research community.