Workshop 04: Advanced Ecotect

back to Digital Detailing: Fall 2007

ASHRAE 90.1 2004 Code Standards for Building Performance:
http://www.realread.com/prst/pageview/browse.cgi?book=1931862664
Dr. Marsh's Natural Frequency:
http://naturalfrequency.com/
Good solid foundation tutorials for Ecotect:
http://www.squ1.com/archive/ecotect/tutorials/tutorials.htm
Weather data for the world:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/cfm/weather_data.cfm
Study comparing the capabilities of different thermal modeling programs:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/tools_directory/pdfs/contrasting_the_capabilities_of_building_energy_performance_simulation_programs_v1.0.pdf
Pilkington's Glass Calculator:
http://www.pilkington.com/windcalc/SMC/Plk/SMC.htm
Lua's wiki:
http://lua-users.org/wiki/

Radiance Download
http://radsite.lbl.gov/deskrad/

Weather Tool
Access Weather Tool from Ecotect Menu
Select NY file from right-most window
Shows hourly data by default...
Graph shows radiation on an average day
Access Weekly data to see 3D charts
Change drop-down to Cloud Cover

• Consider typing in Lat/Lon from Weather Tool into Google Earth
• How applicable is the information that we are getting
• What are the geological features? Mountains? Water?

Other features in the weather tool:
Psychometry... Right click... Passive...
Solar Position... Best Orientation... Input data & run...

Ecotect Internal
File... Import Geometry... Load your DXF and you save button to create an ASS File...

• This allows you to code materials/layers
  

PAR Analysis (Photo Active Radiation - for planting + photovoltaics)
Lower-right corner... right click... copy as metafile...

• This allows you to paste into illustrator as actual geometry
• You can change contours under Grid Data & Scale in the right menu to get a coarser set of data to export
  

Using offsets, remember to link the parent and child with link button
Calculate... Shading and shadows... Shading Design... Generate Optimized...

• For optimizing a shading device
• Go through wizard setup and will produce a custom shading device
• Go to the visualize tab at left to see how the shading device is working with your geometry
• To export the shade...
  • Goto file... export geometry... dxf...

Creating a cutting profile from the sun
Create a node

• Use "set origin" button

Calculate... Shading and shadows... Project a Cutting profile...
Cut two profiles from both sides of surface to produce a shade.

More functions to see shading particular to a specific piece of geometry...

• Under Zone management, we can set unique shadow colors to see how each constituent is affecting the shadow.
• Right click on a surface and tag as a "shaded surface" to how shade interacts with it

Right window "Shadow Settings" - Show Shadow Range to produce multiple shadows
Visualization Settings....

• Toggle on Section Plane...

Projecting Shading Potential... Nash's example of shading his complex armidillo - how can we visualize how light is being blocked before it hits a window? How can we use these traces to produce a new object?

• create a generic "shelf" to catch the light
• Select Windows...
• Calculate... Shading and Shadows... Shading Design Wizard... Project Solar Shading Potential
• Follow Wizards

Ecotect & Radiance
Remember to factor in surrounding buildings (& colors? materials) - this has large repercussions
Luminance vs Lux

• Luminance - candellas per square meter, measure of brightness OFF of a surface
• Lux or Illuminance - how much light is falling on a surface? 400 for normal, 100 for moonlight
• Do this in the lab... Radiance is working there. Otherwise, install from the link and make sure to place on your local C: drive on your latop

Setup the Analysis Grid...

• Preferably 2D
• Set the grid to a specific height (work surface? eye level? ground?

Calculate... Lighting Anaylsis ... Radiance...

• Select Lux
• Go through wizard...
• Let is calculate, wait, and except the data... Click OK then CANCEL!!!
• Re-adjust Min and Max in the "Grid Data & Scale"
• Turn on contours by toggling contours at the top

To export Radiance Analysis Data

• Export manager tab on the right menu...
• Radiance/DaySim...
• Make sure to export "lux" and toggle on "include all camera views"
  • make sure to have made a camera at this point!
• A Ecotect/Radiance window will pop-up and allow you to contour the output and query specific points from your perspective. Also see "False Colour" under "Information overlay"

Ecotect & Winair
It should be noted that all schemes we are looking at are for general conditions, i.e. it will probably not read the specifics of your geometry. Any detail finer than the anaylsis grid will be reduced. Setup the Analysis Grid...

• Setup a plane that is much larger than your model
• Fit our anaylsys grid to this object
• Use manipulator buttons to situate the grid on the ground and make sure it is large enough in the Z dimension to allow for air to circulate over
• Calculations Menu at bottom right
  • toggle CFD cell blockages, perform calculations... perimeters
  • Input wind settings (speed and direction culled from Prevailing wind studies
  • Adjust iterations (normal: 500)

Export

• Go to the export manager and winair 4...
  • Input wind settings (speed and direction culled from Prevailing wind studies
    • Smaller wind schemes = faster calculation (zero-ing energy quicker)
  • Adjust iterations (normal: 500)
  • Run!

Under the anaylsis grid settings (Rightmost window)...
Under Calculations

• Load CFD data
• load output files

Grid Data & Scale

• Air Flow Rate

Grid Position

• Adjust Offset to see depth of simulation

ShortCuts & Issues & Links
Spacebar allows yout to toggle faces
Insert key allows you to insert a child-object (window, opening)
Ctrl-F zoom extents
F5 + F6 + F7 + F8 (persp) to go between perspective and planar projection
F9 + F10 toggle shadows
Preferably export from MAX. Use DXF instead of OBJ because of shape merger issues
Lua (scipting language) http://lua-users.org/wiki/