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Do you use thermal modelling software?


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I'd quite like to try a bit of thermal modelling - nothing too advanced, just a way of adopting a slightly more scientific approach to avoiding cold bridges and so on, in the context of architectural detailing.

 

At the outset at least, a 2d approach would be fine I think. Obviously, the more compatible with Vectorworks the better.

 

The package I see mentioned most often is THERM - available for free:

 

https://windows.lbl.gov/software/therm

 

The problem there is that it looks like a bit of a hassle to get it to run on a mac, and especially my relatively new M1 mac.

 

I've also found another package which runs natively on mac

 

https://energy.concord.org/energy2d/index.html

 

But that looks a little basic and not really aimed at architectural detailing.

 

Then there seem to be various paid-for things out there, some running on the cloud, but they are all rather opaque about their pricing (which I suspect might be geared towards large corporate users).

 

Before going further with my researches I thought I might ask here in case there's anyone knowledgable on this stuff who could point me in the right direction.

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  • 6 months later...
On 8/15/2021 at 6:52 PM, line-weight said:

The package I see mentioned most often is THERM - available for free:

 

Following your link further, I found this :

 

https://energyplus.net

 

 

EnergyPlus™ is a whole building energy simulation program that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model both energy consumption—for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and plug and process loads—and water use in buildings. Some of the notable features and capabilities of EnergyPlus include: 

Integrated, simultaneous solution of thermal zone conditions and HVAC system response that does not assume that the HVAC system can meet zone loads and can simulate un-conditioned and under-conditioned spaces. 

Heat balance-based solution of radiant and convective effects that produce surface temperatures thermal comfort and condensation calculations.

Sub-hourly, user-definable time steps for interaction between thermal zones and the environment; with automatically varied time steps for interactions between thermal zones and HVAC systems. These allow EnergyPlus to model systems with fast dynamics while also trading off simulation speed for precision.

Combined heat and mass transfer model that accounts for air movement between zones.

Advanced fenestration models including controllable window blinds, electrochromic glazings, and layer-by-layer heat balances that calculate solar energy absorbed by window panes. 

Illuminance and glare calculations for reporting visual comfort and driving lighting controls. 

Component-based HVAC that supports both standard and novel system configurations. 

A large number of built-in HVAC and lighting control strategies and an extensible runtime scripting system for user-defined control.

Functional Mockup Interface import and export for co-simulation with other engines.

Standard summary and detailed output reports as well as user definable reports with selectable time-resolution from annual to sub-hourly, all with energy source multipliers.

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45 minutes ago, zoomer said:

 

Following your link further, I found this :

 

https://energyplus.net

 

 

EnergyPlus™ is a whole building energy simulation program that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model both energy consumption—for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and plug and process loads—and water use in buildings. Some of the notable features and capabilities of EnergyPlus include: 

Integrated, simultaneous solution of thermal zone conditions and HVAC system response that does not assume that the HVAC system can meet zone loads and can simulate un-conditioned and under-conditioned spaces. 

Heat balance-based solution of radiant and convective effects that produce surface temperatures thermal comfort and condensation calculations.

Sub-hourly, user-definable time steps for interaction between thermal zones and the environment; with automatically varied time steps for interactions between thermal zones and HVAC systems. These allow EnergyPlus to model systems with fast dynamics while also trading off simulation speed for precision.

Combined heat and mass transfer model that accounts for air movement between zones.

Advanced fenestration models including controllable window blinds, electrochromic glazings, and layer-by-layer heat balances that calculate solar energy absorbed by window panes. 

Illuminance and glare calculations for reporting visual comfort and driving lighting controls. 

Component-based HVAC that supports both standard and novel system configurations. 

A large number of built-in HVAC and lighting control strategies and an extensible runtime scripting system for user-defined control.

Functional Mockup Interface import and export for co-simulation with other engines.

Standard summary and detailed output reports as well as user definable reports with selectable time-resolution from annual to sub-hourly, all with energy source multipliers.

 

That is a "whole building" simulation programme - which I think does something broadly similar to what Energos tries to do.

 

Packages like THERM model individual building details and are mainly used for looking quite specifically at heat loss through things like wall/roof junctions or at window frames.

 

It's what you use if you want to take things a bit further than simply taking overall U-values for roofs, walls etc, because these U-values don't take any account of what happens at the edges of those regions. And it's usually at these edges/junctions that a lot of heat can be lost if they are badly detailed.

 

In the UK at least, building regulations now require us to take into account these junctions, either by following some standard detail types, or by actually modelling the specific detail proposed. So for example this kind of thing -

 

1535821950_Screenshot2022-03-07at18_35_27.jpg.4e9a9727e0fdc418304c89f3ebd0f880.jpg

412324199_Screenshot2022-03-07at18_36_07.jpg.a1e37ccb2920e9dd6f07b37e4f1d58c7.jpg

1030160165_Screenshot2022-03-07at18_36_37.jpg.1851b411481b6e6940aceab6b41fed1e.jpg

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3 minutes ago, line-weight said:

Packages like THERM model individual building details and are mainly used for looking quite specifically at heat loss through things like wall/roof junctions or at window frames.

 

Something you would not like to see visualized for something

like my parent's house from the 70ies 🙂

Edited by zoomer
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