Viper fatal error with openings?

Hello Diva staff,

I get an error with Viper wich i can't solve:

If i launch the IDF with the EPlaunch the analysis run smooth untill it stops suddenly and the error notepad says:

** Severe ** GetHTSubSurfaceData: Surface Openings have too much area for base surface=ZONE1_FACE_142
** ~~~ ** Opening Surface creating error=ZONE1_FACE_142_WINDOW_1_WINDOWFACE_3

And then it reports a fatal error.

I checked the opening but they look fine to me, i don't know what to do, below there's the model:

I have to say that the shape is a super simple polygonized metaball from the software Houdini, maybe is this one the problem but if i delete the openings works fine, besides this issue happened also other times with breps from Rhino...

I attach the error report, can be useful.

Thanks as usual!

Stefano///

Attachments:

Project_Metaball_Houdini_Pol_V01.err, 2 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by stefano vafiadis on November 14, 2012 at 1:09am

Sorry Mostapha,

Just a last question: so you isolated the problematic 3d face_204 inside the Energy Plus software and then you rebuild it directly into it? Is it correct?

Permalink Reply by Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari on November 14, 2012 at 10:10pm

Hi Stefano,

I only removed the extra ZONE1_Face_204_Window_2_WindowFace_1 from the idf file. To do that you only need to add "!" at the start of each line so EnergyPlus will consider them as comments. Here are the lines:

!FenestrationSurface:Detailed,

! ZONE1_Face_204_Window_2_WindowFace_1,
! Window, !- Surface Type
! ASHRAE_90.1-2007_Climate_Zone_4-6_UValue_0.55_SHGC_0.4_VT_0.508, !- Construction Name
! ZONE1_Face_204, !- Building Surface Name
! , !- Outside Boundary Condition Object
! AutoCalculate, !- View Factor to Ground
! , !- Shading Control Name
! , !- Frame and Divider Name
! 1.0000, !- Multiplier
! 3, !- Number of Vertices
! 6.87610145409902,-38.9266988372803,3.01000023921331,
! 4.55142987092336,-36.8644380187988,5.183885734876,
! 4.55141618092855,-36.8644380187988,3.00999905904134;

Permalink Reply by stefano vafiadis on November 15, 2012 at 3:02am

Hey Mostapha,

Thanks for the explanation, it's very clear!

generally i don't bother people so much but this time i really need your help or i won't graduate!!!

I'm doing another analysis, but now on a different shape. I ran the analysis but it reported me 1372 "severe errors" like this:

** Severe ** Problem in interior solar distribution calculation (CHKBKS)
** ~~~ ** Solar Distribution = FullInteriorExterior will not work in Zone=ZONE1
** ~~~ ** because vertex 3 of back surface=ZONE1_FACE_48 is in front of receiving surface=ZONE1_FACE_47
** ~~~ ** (Dot Product indicator=570.0288)

and it gave results as it was full exterior calc.

I saw the error log, dxf, and tried to import in Open Studio but this time i really don't understand the problem!

Thanks anyway, even if you're too busy to answer...

I uploaded also the idf an error.

Stefano

Attachments:

Project_Metaball_Single_Crv_H_17.idf, 103 KB
Project_Metaball_Single_Crv_H_17.err, 598 KB

Permalink Reply by Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari on November 15, 2012 at 3:29pm

Hi Stefano,

The error is because your zone geometry is not convex. FullInteriorExterior solar distribution calculation in EnergyPlus doesn't work for non-convex zones. You have to break it down into convex zones if you want to use FullInteriorExterior.

Check page 157 of EnergyPlus Engineering Reference if you want to know more details.

Best,

Mostapha

Permalink Reply by stefano vafiadis on November 16, 2012 at 1:37am

Thanks a lot Mostpha! I will work it out...

Stefano

Permalink Reply by Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari on November 16, 2012 at 9:44am

Sure! You may want to start using openStudio for your studies to be able to subdivide your zone in multiple zones. Anyways I tried the idea of visualizing .idf files in grasshopper in a primitive level...

Permalink Reply by stefano vafiadis on November 16, 2012 at 10:19am

Wow it's amazing, and you did it in few hours, impressive... How is it made, with 2 scripts components?
I started already using Open Studio, it's pretty cool (thanks for the advice mate!): i exported my model with Geometry Gym to Revit and then created a gbXML to export to OS... I think is a good workflow.

Thank to you finally I demonstrated that that "blobby" simple shape - that appears in your video too ;) - has very good thermal characteristics as a consequence of a very good V/A ratio and i think with the wright shading devices can really consume few amount of energy.

Hear you soon dear Mostapha!

Stefano

Permalink Reply by Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari on November 17, 2012 at 4:45am

Hi Stefano,

Thank you for the kind words. It's actually one python script. The first one only opens the file address as a string. I did another one to visualize Radiance geometries. I think I'll put them as a Ladybug component in extras. Thank you for being an intensive to do it sooner...

Back to the process of getting the geometry to OpenStudio, you can easily use DIVA to generate the idf file. OpenStudio can easily import the idf file.

Mostapha