Dear Colleagues,
I am just starting with a research dealing with the energy performance
of urban
buildings. The focus is put on the urban context, that is how would be
the energy consumption, thermal and comfort conditions of a building
if placed in a dense built area? also which urban and building
describers are the most decisive? Several urban arrangements (plan
density, H/W, etc.) and various building shapes (and
properties:Materials, Use, etc.) will be studied.
I am right now looking for the best tool for performing my
simulations, so preferably a building energy model (with a strong
physical basis) but including a 3D geometry module.
I would be very grateful if I can have some expert opinion on which
tool would be the most appropriate:
1. TRNSYS is a powerful tool but I still do not know whether it can
include any
surrounding buildings (or even vertical screens offset from the main
building which would serve to represent those surroudings?)
2. TAS includes a 3D modeller which allows the design of the whole 3D
area but I have not used it so far so I do not really know its
capabilities, strengthens and weaknesses.
3. Other models...? Please let me know for any proposed tool about its
ease of use vs. complexity. and how much time I need to learn use it.
4. Of course, I welcome every advice, literature references, or any
useful material.
Many Thanks in advance,
Best regards,
Fazia Ali-Toudert, Arch. Ph.D.
Hi Farzia:
I am sure there are more robust, but more complicated 3-D models to use.
But many of us use eQuest, which is based on DOE-2.2. The 2.2 program is
an advance of the 25+ years of experience used in the US Department of
Energy's supported DOE-2 program. eQuest now gives us a front end to at
least ramp up various levels of intensity. There are three levels of
opportunity:
1) Schematic Design Wizard - Using a basic floor shape, one can do a
cursory building and a few Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs).
2) Design Development Wizard - Input floor by floor footprint shapes (or
multiple buildings) with the same level of EEM detail as the Schematic
Wizard.
3) Detailed interface - After creating your building (or buildings) in
either of the above Wizards, input anything DOE-2.2 can muster.
All three levels can generate a 3-D interface.
You will still need to take a training course to acquaint you with the
basic program "theology" and hierarchies. But I believe this will give
you the best "bang for the buck (or Euro) that is presently available.
And this forum wonderful experts can give you assistance 24/7 (or so it
seems).
I agree with John, eQuest can be used to simulate an urban scenario using the Design Development Wizard and the Detailed mode. I am not aware of any single software that is geared specifically for an "urban:" scenario testing. However, eQuest allows you to create multiple buildings on a site, and the "fixed shades" feature allows you to create shading shapes on the building exterior simulating street and landscape objects that interact with the building. I am not sure however, about eQuest's handling of radiant exchange between the street materials and the buildings and between the buildings themselves. I've only used it for single building analysis.
Another software that I looked at (only scratching the surface though) is ECOTECT, which seems to address some of the urban issues that you're interested in. The advantage is that it is a European software and uses metric units which is probably more compatible with your research. However, it is not free (euro 325 for educational purposes euro 80 for student) whereas eQuest is.
http://www.squ1.com/ecotect/features
Respectfully
Akram Rosheidat
I believe eQuest has inputs for radiant reflectance off of ground
surfaces, but am unsure how "building to building' would be handled.
Not sure the present equate between Euros and USD..
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