Studying thermal behavior
I'd like to study indoor temperature values in 4 housing units (that are representative models of a 112 units social housing building) to provide a baseline for an energy retrofit proposal with different upgrades in the envelope. So, at the moment, my goal it's not sizing an hvac system but study thermal behavior in the original building. I followed these steps in OpenStudio SkectchUp Plug-in: create sketch up geometry, define spaces and building construction with my own materials, shading surfaces, schedules assigned to the spaces to define basical loads (people, lights and electric equipment loads, infiltration flow rate and design specification outdoor air )- finally the creation of a thermal zone. At this point is it correct to check "turn on air ideal loads"?
From my basic knowledge I've to turn on ideal air loads to allow heat trasfer simulation e to sum space cooling and heating loads.. Then I will insert thermostat schedules with dummy setpoints (very high in summer and very low in winter) to simulate a situation with “HVAC off”.
Is it a correct method to proceed? Thanks in advance for your help.
