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Results Visualization: Viewdata measure for EnergyPlus output ?

asked 2017-09-05 06:25:17 -0600

updated 2017-09-05 12:25:06 -0600

The OpenStudio viewdata measure is useful for visualizing simulation results and architecture in 3D geometry. Is there any chance this measure could be applied also to EnergyPlus simulation output (instead of OpenStudio output) ? My simulation models typically start with OpenStudio but are finalized in EnergyPlus with additional features such as EMS programs. Without knowing the details of viewdata programming code I expect that the measure should not really depend on the software that is generating the output but rather on the output formats that are used. Hence, if EnergyPlus output is in compatible format (or can be converted into the required format) it should be possible to use the viewdata script also for EnergyPlus simulation results. What's the assessment of software developers ?

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I can't answer your specific question, but note that as version 1.14, OpenStudio has EMS capabilities available. So you could stay in the OpenStudio workflow while making those changes if you wanted.

shorowit's avatar shorowit  ( 2017-09-05 10:00:48 -0600 )edit

thanks for the tip; but my EnergyPlus models may also contain other extensions not available in OpenStudio.

OS-user-AT's avatar OS-user-AT  ( 2017-09-05 12:19:51 -0600 )edit

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answered 2017-09-05 12:05:32 -0600

updated 2017-09-05 13:38:43 -0600

I see two approaches:

1) Cast your EMS additions in an EnergyPlus OpenStudio measure script, and run this along with your model. (EDIT: EMS is available in OpenStudio API).

2) Edit the View Data measure to run as a stand-alone ruby script.
The View Data measure reads the output SQL file for data, and matches variables with surfaces names from the .osm model. It uses VA3C to convert the model geometry into a .json object for displaying in 3D. To make the stand-alone measure work, you need to define all variables of interest in your simulation, enable SQL output file reporting, and then edit the measure.rb file to run as a script with explicit paths for the sqlFile and model variables.

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that's interesting; I think I will have a try editing the viewdata rb-file.

OS-user-AT's avatar OS-user-AT  ( 2017-09-05 12:21:44 -0600 )edit
1

EMS has been wrapped in OS so you can do item 1 in an OpenStudio Measure.

BrianLBall's avatar BrianLBall  ( 2017-09-05 12:42:10 -0600 )edit

I see following difficulties with your recommendation:

(1) displaying viewdata-report.html outside of OpenStudio: Firefox, MS Edge will not display geometry and results (maybe only, if online ?)

(2) the viewdata-report.json file uses Openstudio UUIDs for objects, while EnergyPlus does not use such UUIDs; hence, the proposed Ruby-Script modification might not work after all.

OS-user-AT's avatar OS-user-AT  ( 2017-11-07 11:05:44 -0600 )edit

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Asked: 2017-09-05 06:25:17 -0600

Seen: 596 times

Last updated: Sep 05 '17