[Equest-users] Interior courtyards

[Daric Adair]

Hello Jason [and all];

Maybe I am overlooking an important detail here, but I think Jason’s ‘is it so simple’ question can be answered ‘yes’ with some minor clarifications.

Jeff detailed out some of the complications of this situation very well, but I am not sure we need to go that far with it. If this for a code compliance model or LEED performance model, the simplified approach is best. If we are truly attempting to understand this courtyard and the building interaction, or cross ventilation, and such, the Jeff is spot on.

The way I would/have approach a situation such is two part. In Wizard Mode, draw the shell[s] all the way around the building. For zoning leave this area empty/don’t make a zone for it. If this is truly surrounded by a single zone,  split this zone into two zones through this hole, some of each zone bordering  this ‘hole’. This is necessary to actually create the ‘hole’. Then, in Detailed edit mode, you add/create your exterior walls/façade/windows/etc. in the ‘hole’ area.  If you had to split a zone into two, take the interior wall that splits these two zone and make it/them an ‘air wall’.
I have to use this approach on both smaller and larger ‘holes’ in buildings with no major issues. Just the time it takes to create the other exterior walls, which adds up on big models.

I’d be interested to hear other’s thoughts or approaches.

Thanks,
DARIC R. ADAIR  PE, C.E.M.
Henderson Engineers, Inc. | Mechanical Engineer, Energy Analyst
dir 913 742 5530  tel 913 742 5000  fax 913 742 5001  tx id #F-001236  email daric.adair at hei-eng.com  www.hei-eng.com<http://www.hei-eng.com/>
Licensed in KS. 

From: Jeff Haberl [mailto:jhaberl at tamu.edu]
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 5:20 PM
To: Ng, Jason; equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] Interior courtyards

Hello Jason,

Great building to try to simulate.

However, real courtyard buildings are very difficult to simulate accurately because, depending on climate, they have the potential to expose the building to (2) or more “weather files”, one for the exterior surfaces of the building and one for the “courtyard”. In addition, if there are any openings from the exterior through the building into the courtyard, then there can be significant cross ventilation, which further complicates things.

Finally, if the building is in an extreme climate (for example hot and dry), and if there is any vegetation in the courtyard or fountain, then you may also have significant evaporative cooling in the courtyard (i.e., wetting of the porous floor and walls) and in such cases you’ll need an industrial strength CFD program coupled with the building thermal simulation, that is capable of tracking air flow and moisture in and around the building and its courtyard…not for the faint of heart.

If there is no interaction between the building and the courtyard, if you don’t have evaporative cooling and if you have some measured data, then one could develop an empirical or “inverse simulation” of the courtyard, split the building like a donut and “simulate” the weather condition inside the courtyard for the inner portion of the building and the normal weather file outside the building with the outside portions and then knit the two simulations together with adiabatic, mass-type thermal walls after iterating to converge the solutions.

One additional difficult issue is that many of the traditional courtyard buildings have amounts of thermal mass that go way beyond the capabilities of today’s whole-building thermal simulation programs, which can require a rather long period to converge (i.e., weeks or months).

Finally, although there has been some previous work in this area, most creditable efforts attempt to resolve one of more of the above issues.

Jeff

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Jeff S. Haberl, Ph.D.,P.E.inactive,FASHRAE,FIBPSA,......jhaberl at tamu.edu<mailto:........jhaberl at tamu.edu>
Professor........................................................................Office Ph: 979-845-6507
Department of Architecture............................................Lab Ph:979-845-6065
Energy Systems Laboratory...........................................FAX: 979-862-2457
Texas A&M University...................................................77843-3581
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From: Equest-users [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Ng, Jason
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 4:01 PM
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org<mailto:equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org>
Subject: [Equest-users] Interior courtyards

Of course, I forgot to attach my image……


[cid:image001.jpg at 01D0C3C7.9449B0F0]

Jason Ng_ing. jr. M.Sc.A., LEED green associate
jng at bpa.ca<mailto:jng at bpa.ca>   |  www.bpa.ca<http://www.bpa.ca>  |  t: 5143833747x2813

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