Hot water tanks: How to select the optimal modelling approach?

There is a rising interest for optimal use of thermal energy storages (TES) in buildings for load shifting in demand response programs and to improve energy efficiency. In this context, a state of the art of the different methods for simulating sensible TES is performed. Mathematical equations which describes the processes occurring in the storage are difficult to solve without considerable simplifying equations. That is the reason why a large number of storage models have been developed in the last decades. Few studies compare the different modeling approaches and their respective advantages and limitations. A review of the literature is thus performed and focuses on eight different modeling approaches. The comparison is performed in terms of computational time, accuracy and application. A tree of selection is proposed to select the optimal TES modeling approach for a given application.