From Optimization to Stability Preservation: A Self-Healing, Action-Bearing Digital Twin for Climate-Stressed Building Energy Systems

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Authors: Seyed Reza Samaei, James Riffat
Cited by: 1
References: 31

Abstract

Climate change exposes building energy systems to conditions beyond conventional control assumptions, where heatwaves, occupancy shifts, sensor drift, and degradation erode stability over time. This study proposes a self-healing digital twin that preserves system behavior within a defined stability envelope by integrating physics-based modeling, data assimilation, and adaptive response mechanisms. Self-healing is defined as preventing instability under non-stationary uncertainty. The framework is validated in closed-loop simulations across multiple stress scenarios, demonstrating robust stability under compound disturbances. Performance is benchmarked against rule-based control, classical model predictive control (MPC), and conventional digital twin supervision using a locked paired evaluation protocol with 30 matched realizations per scenario. Under compound uncertainty, the proposed framework reduces cumulative thermal comfort violation from 27.8 ± 3.6 (MPC) to 13.9 ± 1.9 , corresponding to a 50.0% reduction. The time outside the comfort band decreases from 11.2% to 4.6%. Drift accumulation, measured through residual energy, is reduced by 56.2%, while control smoothness improves by 39.5%. Total energy consumption is reduced by 3.38%, and mean recovery time following major disturbances decreases from 11.8 ± 1.8 h to 4.5 ± 0.9 h. Ablation and failure analyses show that stability preservation arises from the coordinated interaction of data assimilation, envelope-based stabilization, and structural adaptation. The results indicate that resilience-oriented stability management provides a more reliable operational paradigm than optimization-centric control for building energy systems under climate-driven uncertainty.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Building Energy and Comfort Optimization Model Reduction and Neural Networks Integrated Energy Systems Optimization

Publication details

Journal / source
Green Technology & Innovation
Publisher
Caravel Press
Volume
2
Issue
1
Pages
126–148
Publication date
8 April 2026