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zoning for large building

asked 9 years ago

Eva's avatar

updated 9 years ago

Hi sorry I have another question of zoning a large building.

To zone a large and irregular bulding(in my case, it's a 80-story building) into "perimeter and core zones", i found "automatics zones" in AutoDESK. But is that also possible in Openstudio ? If not, will we finally get idf file from AutoDESK?

Thanks!

Eva

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Maybe you could group together zones with similar exposures and loads by using zone multipliers. In some cases this can simplify things quite a bit.

Lincoln's avatar Lincoln  ( 9 years ago )

@Lincoln In my model,every story is a little different, and it looks like a ladder platform ( floor area is larger than roof ceiling area). In this case, can i also use zone multipliers? Thanks!

Eva's avatar Eva  ( 9 years ago )

using zone multipliers may not be the most appropriate for your situation. Typically zone multipliers are based on floor area but this may not correctly capture the differences in zone volumes between zones. You could base the multiplier on zone volume but this may have some unintended consequences as most zone loads and some HVAC sizing parameters are based on the floor area.

Lincoln's avatar Lincoln  ( 9 years ago )

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answered 9 years ago

Krishnan's avatar

updated 9 years ago

It is possible to export E+ V7.1 IDF from Revit Energy Analysis (Results and Compare). The geometry information should be as complete as in the Revit model. This same workflow is also supported in Formit Energy Analysis.

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answered 9 years ago

updated 9 years ago

keb's avatar

OpenStudio doesn't have a tool to create a perimeter and core from a random polygon, but we do have scripts/measures to do this for rectangular and other shaped buildings (does anyone want to write the measure for this?). But what you can do is to use the offset tool in SketchUp, you can type your desired perimeter depth and then click return. Then draw lines connecting the corners to break up the perimeter zone. Then use the space diagram tool to extrude it.

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For an 80 story building I would definitely use zone multipliers to model 1 out of every 10 or 15 mid floors, using adiabatic ground conditions between floors.

There are a few paths from AutoDesk products but more through gbXMl than IDF. You can get gbXML's out of Green Building Studio. I haven't tested this but I'm told that works with FormitPro. Here is a link to a video that demonstrates importing gbXML from Vasari into OpenStudio (starts at about 20 minute mark). You can also export gbXML directly from Revit but because it is a less constrained workflow than some other options the geometry often needs work after importing.

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Thanks David. Since my building envelope is downloaded from Sketchup Warehouse and I did not use the Space Diagram, this method may be not applicable to building zoning in my case.

In addition, can we use zone multipliers if every story are a little different?

Thanks again!

Eva's avatar Eva  ( 9 years ago )

What is your building shape like? Is it a constant taper across the 80 stories? I you could use still use a zone multiplier but you would have to cheat a bit to model 5-10 floors at a time with a stop down of appreciate size each time, being careful to get your overall area correct.

David Goldwasser's avatar David Goldwasser  ( 9 years ago )

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Asked: 9 years ago

Seen: 418 times

Last updated: Jul 28 '15