Question-and-Answer Resource for the Building Energy Modeling Community
 | 1 | initial version |
@edwinguerra first of all its important to identify the purpose of your model - is it for code compliance or realistic energy estimation? If for code compliance, you may have to include the impact of terrain but exclude the impact of trees. I have built surrounding terrain previously using component blocks in DesignBuilder, am unsure of equivalent in IES or other. Be sure to set a solar absorptance value for the component block(or shade surface), a common figure used for ground is 0.8. Trees can also be built using transparent component blocks, you may choose transmittance from 0.5 to 0.2 (suggested) depending on the type of tree. A helpful paper for modelling trees can be found here. Hope that helps.
| | 2 | No.2 Revision |
@edwinguerra first of all its important to identify the purpose of your model - is it for code compliance or realistic energy estimation? If for code compliance, you may have to include the impact of terrain but exclude the impact of trees. I have built surrounding terrain previously using contour maps from surveys and component blocks in DesignBuilder, am unsure of equivalent in IES or other. You can build approximately using few contours as a guide or you can build in more detail using all available contours. Be sure to set a solar absorptance value for the terrain component block(or blocks(or shade surface), surfaces), a common figure commonly used for ground is 0.8. Trees can also be built using transparent component blocks, you may choose transmittance from 0.5 to 0.2 (suggested) depending on the type of tree. A helpful paper for modelling trees can be found here. Hope that helps.
