Energyplus 101: Part 1 – Geometry

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This is the first of a multi-part series on getting started with Energyplus. These videos walk you through the process of creating geometry for your Energyplus IDF file using the OpenStudio SketchUp plugin. Energyplus and OpenStudio are both available at the DOE’s website for Energyplus –> http://www.energyplus.gov

Here are the direct links:

For support with energyplus please visit their support website @ http://energyplus.helpserve.com/ or by emailing them directly for support ticket request @ EnergyPlus-Support@gard.com

You may also be interested in subscribing to the Energyplus Yahoo Users group @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EnergyPlus_Support/

Support for OpenStudio is available by email @ openstudio@nrel.gov

Geometry in OpenStudio – Part 1

Geometry in OpenStudio – Part 2

Geometry in OpenStudio – Part 3

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  • Dusko Nikolic

    This is brilliant! Thank you very much for the videos. I wish I had videos like this when I was learning E+. That would have saved me a lot of grief

  • Hugo

    Thanks for this videos… it helped me alot understanding the bases…
    I'm having some problem when i save in OpenStudio… idf file is geting bugged… extention doesnt apear. I can work it in Idf Editor but after this sometimes it doesnt work again with OpenStudio.
    This hapens to you also? do you have any advice?

    Thanks again for this amazing videos…

  • http://openRevit.com openRevit.com

    @Hugo

    Thanks for watching the videos! The first thing I would recommend is that you make sure you are running the latest versions of Sketchup, OpenStudio and Energyplus. Also, please make sure that you are loading and saving the files using the Openstudio toolbar and not the Sketchup toolbar and that the file extensions are .idf

    Lastly, if you can provide the actual warning messages or errors that you are getting, this might provide some more clarity on the difficulties you are experiencing.

  • Steve

    Great videos!!! Is it possible to create an atrium space within a building using OpenStudio?

  • http://openRevit.com openRevit.com

    Yes. You can create double high, triple, etc. spaces and treat them as atrium's. From a modelling standpoint however atrium's are often subdivided vertically to allow analysis of temperature or air characteristics as the elevation changes. This can be accomplished as well by creating holes between spaces and in some cases taking advantage of the airflow network within E+ to understand buoyancy and temperature. Thanks!

  • Steve

    Good to know… Thanks! I have another question: I'm building a model with a large floor plan with many rooms. When I use the Search Surfaces tool to determine whether I've converted all of the partitions to interior constructions, I get some interior walls that appear as exterior. However, when I click on these walls, the Object Info window tells me that they are, indeed, interior constructions. Should I just leave these alone, or delete the problematic zones and start over?

  • http://openRevit.com openRevit.com

    My post is outdated already! There is a new tool that specifically addresses the issues of having to manual identify surfaces. In the latest version of OpenStudio there is a feature called “Surface Matching”. My workflow is to use the “Render by Boundary Condition” in conjunction with x-ray view so i can get a good look at the surface types. Now, if you run the surface matching routine it should automatically fix the surface types and I have found it to work really well. The *key* to the whole thing is making sure if you have overlapping surfaces that you split them with a line appropriately as illustrated in the video. If not, the program will get confused, and you may get warnings. Let me know if this helps! I am planning on re-recording this session showing off that feature because it is so good, and of course going beyond geometry into load calcs, HVAC etc. Busy at work, no time for fun ;-)

  • Steve

    The Surface Matching feature worked great! Thanks again!

  • Steve

    I'm having big problems with SketchUp/OpenStudio… When I open my idf file, I get the following error message:

    Warning: BuildingSurface:Detailed, E50046
    The zone referenced by this base surface does not exist.
    A new zone object has been automatically created for this surface.

    This is especially frustrating, because there are about 200 of these messages. I don't know how to prevent these new zones from being created. Does anyone know of a way to fix this?

  • http://openRevit.com openRevit.com

    Steve, if you want to send me the IDF file to the email address in the contact me page I will take a look at it. This may be related to overlapping geometry but I can't tell for sure without looking at the file. Thanks.
    Support can also be obtained by emailing openstudio@nrel.gov

  • Nicole

    Hi, Openrevit. I’m having some problems. My OpenStudio isn’t saving idf archives. I’m starting to work with Energy Plus and I don’t know if it is normal.
    So, I started with a simple form; I crieted a zone at all, but in the “save time” when I finish my zone at all, my sistem don’t find a idf archive for to save as! What I do?

    And, thanks, your video was great!

  • http://openRevit.com openRevit.com

    Nicole

    I would recommend reading through the guide provided with OpenStudio. Make sure that to open and save your IDF files you are using the OpenStudio toolbar to do all you open and saves and not the SketchUp save menu. It is not necessary to save a SketchUp file at all in fact I would recommend not doing that. Also, it appears with the latest release they may be moving to to a different file system, possibly a open database type of file format but unfortunately i have not read through the entire features and change log for the latest release. Hope to have more on this soon.

    Alan

  • Nicole

    Oh, thanks!
    I’ll try it.

    Nicole