Modelling horizontal air walls in Honeybee

Hi All,

I am trying to model a horizontal air wall in Honeybee (double height space) for an energy simulation.

However, when I visualise the surface types after the energy simulation using the "Decompose by type" component it looks like Honeybee did not take into account the presence of the horizontal air wall.

I read few previous posts on the topic and I am not sure whether it is possible to model horizontal air walls (even if I am sure there must be a way!).

Is there anyone that could please advise on how to model correctly horizontal air walls in Honeybee?

Many thanks,

Carmelo

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Permalink Reply by Chris Mackey on August 20, 2016 at 10:55am

Carmelo,

Air walls of all varieties (ie horizontal, vertical, diagonal) are supported.

Could you clarify what you man by "after the simulation?" If you man that you use the "Import IDF" component, the reason why air walls are not recognized is probably because EnergyPlus actually doesn't have air walls. In other words, the concept of air walls does not come from the creators of EnergyPlus but rather practitioners who needed to separate a space into two or more zones. Practitioners thus define air walls by a material with the conductivity of an air film and an extra energyplus object that mixes the air between zones. For this reason, the import IDF might not immediately recognize the surfaces as air walls because E+ has not strict definition of them.

If you are not referring to the importIDF component then you are not assigning the air walls correctly. Please upload the file and we can see what the issue is.

-Chris

Permalink Reply by Carmelo G. Galante on August 20, 2016 at 12:03pm

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your very quick reply, understood.

Yes, that is correct, I meant using the "Import IDF" component; sorry, it was not very clear.

The air walls come out to be previewed as WALLS using the "Decompose by type component". So, according to what you are saying I should not get worried for this.

Do you think it is appropriate to model a horizontal air wall using the "standard" air wall type usually used for the vertical condition? I mean that the air convection mechnism is different between the two cases, vertical and horizontal, and therefore also the mixing of the air should be different.

Thanks,

Carmelo

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