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Dear Fazia<br>
<br>
I have used most of building simulation tools currently available in a
UK (european) context either research based or commercially and I have
previously worked for one of the major software producers (IES). This
is my humble opinion on the state of play in the tools that are most
commonly used in the UK (& Europe to some extent) from my
experience, I hope people won't mind this long'ish post too much.<br>
<br>
My current favorite is DesignBuilder. This will probably go down well
with you all in the US seeing it uses the very well established Energy+
thermal simulation engine. The main advantages of this software are: <br>
<ul>
<li>low cost - ok it's not free like E-Quest, but then it is a
commercially developed tool therefore probably much easier to use if I
go from my knowldge based on trying to use the daddy of simulation
tools ESP-r (the tool that I'd say is the benchmark for all tools)</li>
<li>It is very intuitive and easy to build models<br>
</li>
<li>The whole site can be built on one "model" file, perfect for your
urban context, as each building is seperate but yet contained in the
same file.</li>
<li>Land, surrounding site and any other obstructions or shading
devices are modelled directly<br>
</li>
<li>You can output and then edit the energy+ IDF file to do any
challenging and advanced modelling</li>
</ul>
Ecotect is a great visual tool and the outputs for the solar and
shading tools are very user and client / audience friendly. This is a
particularly architect friendly tool as it links with virtually every
type of 3d format file you can think of and also Archicad. Once built,
models can be output into energy+ format and also ESP-r format. It
links with Radiance and has it's own radiance control panel.<br>
<br>
TAS is a great tool and is easy to use and will allow you to do block
modelling fairly quickly and easily. Shading is a little more tricky,
but is included within the model parameters. Simulations are quick and
very accurate. It is the only tool that I am aware of that can do full
mixed mode ventilation modellling properly - there are issues with all
the other tools I've used around resetting openings after ac has been
turned on. All the results are generally worked out using Excel
macros so the outputs are good and easy to manipulate. It basically
lets excel do what it's good at.<br>
<br>
IES Virtual Environment is still a good tool, but is becoming a bit
complex and in my opinion slightly dated in terms of it's front end.
However that to some extent also makes it probably the easiest tool to
just get going with to at least produce a model. From there on it can
start to get tricky depending what you are doing. The problem you will
face is the issue of the way you introduce the surroundings in your
urban environ. You would have to use obstructions files (other models
brought in as an obstruction to cause shading, etc) but these are
limited to one file. Therefore you either have to model the whole site
and then shading or land seperately. It could be awkward, but not
impossible. I've used VE for about 10 years now and it's a good tool.
It links with radiance, though I always just created the base model in
IES then exported it into the full version to get the full capabilities
of Radiance directly. I used to teach this at Manchester University
and it is easy to teach, but then so is TAS and DesignBuilder.<br>
<br>
Others include ESP-r - freely available with 3d engine, but difficult
to use and unix/linux or cygwin based. There is a windows gui for it
now based on a gtk visual engine (I think), but it still looks just the
same as it does on linux and is not that user friendly. Does
everything you can think of pretty much in terms of simulation, but I
think the cost of the time spent learning it would be better invested
in getting an easier to use tool. Ruiska is a BIM based tool, but
quite expensive. TRNSYS as you say is very powerful, but not the
easiest to use.<br>
<br>
Hope this is helpful.<br>
<br>
Regards<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
<br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Dr Paul Carey<br>
Director<br>
<br>
Zero Energy Design Ltd<br>
10A Portland Place, 2-22 Mottram Road, Stalybridge, SK15 3AD, UK.<br>
Tel: +44 161 3386200 Fax: +44 161 3031281<br>
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:Paul@zed-uk.com">Paul@zed-uk.com</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.zed-uk.com/">http://www.zed-uk.com/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear Colleagues,
I am just starting with a research dealing with the energy performance
of urban
buildings. The focus is put on the urban context, that is how would be
the energy consumption, thermal and comfort conditions of a building
if placed in a dense built area? also which urban and building
describers are the most decisive? Several urban arrangements (plan
density, H/W, etc.) and various building shapes (and
properties:Materials, Use, etc.) will be studied.
I am right now looking for the best tool for performing my
simulations, so preferably a building energy model (with a strong
physical basis) but including a 3D geometry module.
I would be very grateful if I can have some expert opinion on which
tool would be the most appropriate:
1. TRNSYS is a powerful tool but I still do not know whether it can
include any
surrounding buildings (or even vertical screens offset from the main
building which would serve to represent those surroudings?)
2. TAS includes a 3D modeller which allows the design of the whole 3D
area but I have not used it so far so I do not really know its
capabilities, strengthens and weaknesses.
3. Other models...? Please let me know for any proposed tool about its
ease of use vs. complexity. and how much time I need to learn use it.
4. Of course, I welcome every advice, literature references, or any
useful material.
Many Thanks in advance,
Best regards,
Fazia A.
---------------------------------------------
Fazia Ali-Toudert, Arch. Ph.D.
University of Dortmund - Faculty of Building
Chair for Environmental Architecture
Baroper Str. 301
D-44227 Dortmund
Phone: +49 231 755 5426
Fax: +49 231 755 5423
website: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.bauwesen.uni-dortmund.de/ka/">http://www.bauwesen.uni-dortmund.de/ka/</a>
email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:fazia.alitoudert@daad-alumni.de">fazia.alitoudert@daad-alumni.de</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:fazia.alitoudert@tu-dortmund.de">fazia.alitoudert@tu-dortmund.de</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
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