My opinion:
EnergyPlus does not assure mass conservation, but it sure does provide warnings when mass is not conserved! (It’s my second favorite warning, right after the flow / watt errors for DX coils L)
I think that the current treatment is proper without change for these reasons:
1. While mass flow is always conserved / balanced in a real system it is almost impossible to simulate it exactly, since fan pressure vs flow curves become part of the simulation (e.g., infiltration will increase to replace exhaust fan flow that is not balanced by the air loop, but the exhaust fan flow will be affected by increased pressure drop through infiltration cracks. Infiltration pressure loss is a black art, not a science!)
2. There are dozens of possible variables affecting mass conservation! This is not a simple algorithm – I’ve tried and partially succeeded when using simpler spreadsheet tools, but always end by thinking that my solutions are either too complex or inadequate. This brings me to….
3. Appropriate expectations for an energy modeling program do not include this level of complexity. I’d love to see a scientific paper which explores the likely accuracy of an energy model, given all of the variables and all of their in
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