Hello everyone,
This is my first post to this forum - have been using eQuest for a few
months now, having used VisualDOE for a few years. I am modeling a large
building (about 50 stories, with 21 different shells), and currently I have
one system per floor (34 systems total). However, when I try to change the
system type for even one system, eQuest crashes. Also, every time I go into
DD Wizard to simplify my model and exit the wizard, I would get an
"Unhandled Exception" error and eQuest would crash again. Besides, I have
about 74,000 windows in the model too.
It'd be great if someone could point out what is wrong with the limited
information I can explain above, but to resolve my issue, I am considering
alternative solutions and would appreciate if you guys can comment on them:
1. Is there a way to avoid creating Top, Middle and Bottom floors for
multiplied floors and have only one floor? Cutting down on two extra floors
for every shell with mutipliers might help.
2. Is there a way to split up the model into two, enter all inputs
seperately and then import one model into another to complete the model and
run the simulations? I know this sounds complicated, but would appreciate
some pointers from people who have successfully tried this before.
Thanks,
RK.
Hi RK,
Your questions are most quickly answerable in reverse order:
#2: yes, you can create a partial model and import into another. I have attached a guide to this approach (also findable within the mailing list archives and elsewhere on the web).
#1: You could take an approach using what you proposed for #2, but I would first try to define your middle stories as single-story shells with no ceiling or floor (adiabatic) and then assigning an appropriate shell multiplier at the first DD shell wizard screen to get the quantities right. That should avoid the whole top/middle/bottom thing.
I also suspect sheer size to be the foundation of your troubles, with geometry-induced errors following close behind.
If you're still stuck I would look hard at whether there's any means to simplify how your 74k windows are defined and/or the associated perimeter wall geometries. To that end I've also attached a previous discussion where a window/wall geometry error was causing crashes in a large model - might be instructive/helpful for your current situation.
Hopefully the above suggestions will simplify things back into working order, but if not it is sometimes productive to save a dummy copy of your file and you'll find removing a specific shell or system will return the model to stability, in which case re-creating the offending item can be faster than trying to ferret out the actual cause. If you take this approach try to work backwards from the point you first noticed issues.
~Nick
[cid:489575314 at 22072009-0ABB]
NICK CATON, P.E.
RK,
Here is another string related to file size etc. from some time back. It
may or may not not apply to your current problems.
Best of luck.
Nick,
Thank you for your suggestions. I was aware of importing schedules and
material constructions through the INP import feature of eQuest (the 90.1
layer-by-layer constructions file from these forums helped a lot), but
wasn't sure if someone had imported part of a building successfully.
I am now looking at getting rid of the top/middle/bottom floor setup, and
reducing my number of windows. Hopefully I should get this model running
soon.
Thanks again.
Try using floor multipliers in the wizard. That might also help to reduce your file size and runtime.
Just a thought.
Pasha
Sent from my iPhone