[Equest-users] Walls and Zones

[James Hansen]

Instead of deleting interior walls, why not just convert them do a different type?  If I have a large open office with multiple zones, I'll just set up all interior walls to be of type "Air".

Here are the available wall types from the help file:

INT-WALL-TYPE
Specifies the type of interior wall through code-words that identify the type of heat transfer that occurs across the wall.

STANDARD                  

The default. Designates an interior wall that separates two spaces and conducts heat between the spaces. It can be defined with a CONSTRUCTION with TYPE=U-VALUE or TYPE=LAYERS although the heat storage effects of the wall are accounted for only if TYPE=LAYERS. If you choose a CONSTRUCTION with TYPE=U-VALUE, the U-value should be less than 0.709 Btu/ft2-F-hr (4.02 W/m2-K), which is the limiting value for two air films and a very low resistance solid layer.  The NEXT-TO keyword is required for this wall type. However, if the NEXT-TO space is the same as the space in which the wall was defined, the program will change INT-WALL-TYPE to ADIABATIC.

ADIABATIC                  

Designates an interior surface that does not conduct heat between spaces but can store heat. This type should be used to separate spaces that are considered to be identical and are, therefore, defined with MULTIPLIER or FLOOR-MULTIPLIER in the SPACE command. An example is the wall, ceiling, or floor that separates identical spaces that are side-by-side on one floor of a building or above one another in a multistory building. This type of wall should have delayed construction.

INTERNAL                   

Designates an interior surface that lies completely inside a space. An example is a water wall used to store solar energy in a space. Another example is a wall between two rooms that are modeled as a single space. This type of wall should have a construction with TYPE=LAYERS; in this case the thermal mass of the wall will be considered in the space's custom weighting factor calculation

AIR                             

Designates a non-physical interior surface with no mass (i.e., an opening between spaces) across which convection can take place. This type of wall should have a CONSTRUCTION with TYPE=U-VALUE. In this case, we recommend an approximate U-value of 2.7 Btu/ft2-hr (15.3 W/m2). The NEXT-TO keyword is required for this wall type.

                                  
If the "AIR wall" is part of a daylit space, its INSIDE-VIS-REFL values need to be specified (even though it is not a physical wall) since daylight can be reflected back across the AIR wall from the adjacent space. The values to use for INSIDE-VIS-REFL in this case are determined as follows. Assume that the AIR wall, of area A, is defined in space 1 and separates space 1 and space 2. Let the spaces have inside surface area Si (excluding the AIR wall) and area-weighted visible reflectance ri excluding the AIR wall). Then INSIDE-VIS-REFL=(R2 , R1) where Ri is the cavity reflectance of space i given by
            Ri = A * ri / (Si - (Si -A)*rI)




GHT Limited
James Hansen, PE, LEED AP
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-----Original Message-----
From: equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of omoltay at mimtarch.com
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 6:54 PM
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Equest-users] Walls and Zones

Dear all,

I have not received a reply to my previous question, so here is a
simplified version of it: I see that everytime I create a zone in the
Wizards, eQuest builds walls around these zones. Does every zone (or every
space) need to have walls around? Would it be a problem if I delete these
walls afterwards?

For example, when I have a large open office, I would like to have several
zones. So after the Wizard creates the building description, I have to
delete all the walls around these zones.

Is this normal procedure?

Thanks,

Omer Moltay, LEED AP

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