View EnergyPlus results from multiple output files of some specific variable

asked 2015-10-19 15:00:26 -0500

nancynanxiaodan
387 ●2 ●11

updated 2017-09-25 15:18:07 -0500

__AmirRoth__

4436 ●5 ●17 http://bleedinggreenna...

Hello,

I am having an results view issue here. Wondering anyone could give me some tips, really appreciate.

The EP was called multiple times to run different simulation based on different IDF files (for example, EP was run 10 times, results in 10 Eso files and other results files. ) However, what I really interested was only some particular variables, such as the total PV generation, electricity consumption of whole building and electricity consumption of heat pumps and water heaters etc.

So what I would like to achieve is that is there a way to pick a particular result from 10 different Eso files into EXCEL or in CSV format. In order to make the results comparable, and then plot them.

I knew that xEsoView could plot the variable against the time (hourly monthly or yearly) , however, I could not physically see the exact value of the variable for a certain time period (Yes, it could be seen when you move the mouse to the points, however,it was time-consuming).

And also the results viewer from DesignBuilder could view multiple .Eso files and do the similar function of plotting or saving data as a comma separated values file for loading into a spreadsheet for further analysis, however, is there any effective way to solve this problem for a large scale of .Eso files, lets say 100?

If it was only 2 or 3 files, I could do it manually, read each value of the variable for a certain period, and then plot the graph. However, I think the results data was stored in some place, and there should be some way to read the results in more effective way to save time when dealing with lots of results.

If anyone have any suggestions and tips, I really appreciate your kind support and help here.

Thanks Nancy

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Just add some points that I am looking for over 100 results in Eso files. 10 is just for an example.

nancynanxiaodan ( 2015-10-19 17:58:09 -0500 )edit

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answered 2015-10-20 09:33:57 -0500

JasonGlazer

6540 ●20 ●12 http://www.gard.com/

updated 2017-11-05 08:07:37 -0500

You might want to take a look at this question:

https://unmethours.com/question/320/w...

One option that requires using Python is to create custom tabular reports (monthly or annual) and read the XML file instead of looking directly as the ESO or CSV files. All the same output variables are available but they are aggregated by by month or year. To create the XML output format use:

OutputControl:Table:Style, XMLandHTML: !- Column Separator

Then you can use a Python script called epXML2CSV.py that reads the XML output from every file in a folder and creates a CSV file that can then be imported into a spreadsheet program like Excel. It reads only parts of the tabular report that you want based on list in a text files.

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Thanks Jason, It is quite a good solution. May I ask that if it is possible to obtain hourly even sub-hourly data for certain variables if I set the timesteps to 2 (half-hourly) or 6 (10mins) per hour?

nancynanxiaodan ( 2015-10-21 07:20:47 -0500 )edit

Hey @JasonGlazer and also, when I am running the .py file, it gave me an error saying: ValueError: need more than 1 value to unpack. I am wondering that I didnt use it correctly. After the simulation, I am having the XML file and then I am trying to use epXML2CSV.py file to convert XML to CSV. probably, I am not using it correctly, may I ask some instructions for how to use epXML2CVS python file, please? Thanks

nancynanxiaodan ( 2015-10-21 09:34:48 -0500 )edit

And also when I execute the .bat file, it generate a CSV file but contains nothing in it, I changed the extractfilename to the name I have from the simulation results and gave a name to csvfilename as well. Then execute the .bat file, csv file was generated but nothing in it..Just wondering where I did wrong? Thanks :)

nancynanxiaodan ( 2015-10-21 18:33:45 -0500 )edit

It is difficult to know what the issue is. Are you sure the XML file has the data that you are trying to extract? You may need to set up the custom monthly reports so that the values you want appear. Also, this is only for the values that appear in the tabular output file so it would not include variable values on an hourly or subhourly basis.

JasonGlazer ( 2015-10-27 08:06:58 -0500 )edit

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answered 2015-10-20 13:56:31 -0500

Lyle K

2216 ●1 ●14 http://www.aeieng.com/

For an off-the-shelf option, DView is pretty good (free) hourly results viewer. Once you get all the output variables in a single CSV, you can open in DView and investigate by turning variables on/off in a variety of charting formats.

Compiling the results from multiple runs into a single file is likely going to involve some scripting of sorts (see Jason's answer). We regularly access the EnergyPlus SQL output file to extract hourly output data.

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Hey Lyle, Thanks for your answer, may I ask that how you get E+ SQL output file, coz I noticed that SQL file is an optional output file format, and after the simulation did not see any files ending with '.sql'. should I change the OutputControl in IDF files to create .sql file? Thanks

nancynanxiaodan ( 2015-10-21 08:48:02 -0500 )edit

In the E+ IDF editor under 'Output Reporting' you can add the object Output:SQLite. Additional information can be found here. The SQL file is a database file that includes data found in multiple E+ output files. You can query the database to return certain sets of data or write them to a different file. The site here provides some guidance on how to access and output the data in various formats.

Lyle K ( 2015-10-21 11:28:00 -0500 )edit

Thanks Lyle, I've found that information, I was wondering the format of generating the SQL database file in IDF. On the other hand, I just noticed that there is a function of EP-Launch that you could group the input file, and obtain a group of output file, under this circumstance, could it be possible to extract results from multiple runs into a single file from SQL database file? Thanks Nancy

nancynanxiaodan ( 2015-10-22 05:16:09 -0500 )edit

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View EnergyPlus results from multiple output files of some specific variable

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View EnergyPlus results from multiple output files of some specific variable