Apache, SunCast and VE Compliance Simulations

 

You can start simulations and continue using the VE as normal without waiting for those simulations to complete. When simulations complete their results files can be downloaded and inspected. The number of active concurrent simulations allowed is based on the number of cores available on the target machine.

 

There are many benefits to using Parallel Simulations:

·       It allows you to continue working while a simulation is running

·       It allows you to Queue simulations from as many different models as you want and have them run in the background

·       Provides a single, coherent interface for simulations and their progress/status

·       Compliance simulations are much faster with an approximated 5x performance increase for PRM simulations including all baseline models.

The procedure for running simulations via the new Parallel route is almost identical to that of the old. Simply start a simulation as you would normally and (if it is supported) it will appear as a new entry in the Task dialog. It is important to note that for all parallel simulations a snapshot of the model will be created when the simulation is scheduled and this will be used exclusively by the simulation throughout. This means that any modifications to the actual model after this will not be reflected in the results file(s) for that particular simulation.

 

The supported simulations are as follows:

 

 

Running an Apache dynamic simulation is done in the same way as before, however you can now automatically run both SunCast and Radiance from the Apache Simulation dialog by selecting the relevant check-boxes:

If you have not yet assigned sensors to rooms in the model, then the ‘Run Radiance (Assign default sensors)’ option will automatically do this for you. Starting an Apache simulation with these options enabled will also add additional simulation tasks for both SunCast and Radiance if it detects there is no valid shading or illuminance files present.

 

When the SunCast and Radiance simulation tasks complete then the Apache simulation task will start, taking into account the generated shading and illuminance files.

Once the overall Apache simulation completes an alert will be shown, allowing you to view the results of that simulation:

Clicking on the ‘View Results’ link will open VistaPro with the results file selected.

For every Apache licence you own you can run up to 4 concurrent Apache simulations at once. For more information on purchasing additional licences please contact keys@iesve.com . Note that this is also limited by the number of available cores on your machine.

 

 

Solar shading calculations for Apache are also supported by the new Parallel workflow. To start a solar shading calculation simply go into the SunCast view, navigate to the Calculations menu -> Solar Shading for Apache. In the dialog that opens select the Start button:

 

 

The dialog will close immediately and a new simulation entry will be added to the task dialog like so:

 

When the simulation completes an alert should display:

Clicking the ‘View Results’ link will open the shading file in the same manner as the ‘Load shading results’ option does (invoked from the ‘SunCast’ menu).

 

 

L2 Compliance reports and Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s) can now be generated much faster when using one of either ‘ApacheSim – compliance’ or ‘ApacheSim - EPC’ simulation modes. This has been achieved by running concurrent Apache simulations for each of the required model variants (Actual, Notional and Reference) at the same time, whereas before these simulations were performed in sequence.

In the VE-Compliance view, and with Parallel Simulations enabled, select either the ‘CO2 Emissions: Part L compliance’ button or the ‘Generate EPC’ button to start their respective simulations:

 

                                                                                                    

 

 

L2 Compliance and EPC jobs will be added to the task dialog containing tasks for each of the required Apache simulations. When the jobs complete the results will be downloaded, provided the ‘Automatic downloads’ option is enabled (see Settings), and reports will be generated as per usual, switching you to the results tab. If automatic downloads are disabled, then you can right-click the ‘L2 Compliance’ or ‘EPC’ entries in the dialog and select the ‘Download’ option manually.