The Simulation Calendar sets the pattern of weekdays, leap year status and holidays applying to simulations. This information feeds into the setting of profiles defined in ApPro.
Certain types of simulation, for example simulations for UK Building Regulations and Energy Performance Certificates, are subject to a fixed calendar which is not under user control.
Section: General
The leap year status of the simulation is determined by the state of the checkbox ‘Treat simulation as leap year’. When checked, simulations that start before (or on) 28th February and end after (or on) 1st March will include 29th February. Users will also be able to nominate 29th February as the start or end date for the simulation. Results files generated from such simulations will then include 29th February.
Since .fwt files and .epw files are only 365 days long, for leap year simulations, Apache uses weather data from 30th December to fill in the missing data for 31st December.
Section: Weekday on 1st January
The user must specify the weekday on which 1st January falls for the simulation in order to determine the weekday pattern. This can be done in two ways. You can set the year by selecting ‘Same as for year’, in which case the weekday will be taken to be the weekday on which 1st January would fall for the specified year. Alternatively, you can explicitly specify the weekday to be used by selecting ‘Day’. Note, in particular, that ‘Same as for year’ does not specify the actual simulation year. Thus, one can specify a year from which the weekday on 1st January will be deduced and specify a leap year simulation, even if that year is not a leap year.
If you use the ‘Same as for year’ option, there is a further choice. If you tick ‘Take from weather file’ the year will be set from the year recorded on the simulation weather file. If you do not tick this box you can set the year explicitly. In either case, this year simply determines the weekday on which 1st January falls for the simulation.
Each of the options described above sets the weekday pattern for all days of the year. The weekdays are assumed to cycle round the sequence Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... between January 1st and December 31st. Because the 365-day simulation year is 52 weeks and one day, December 31st and January 1st are assigned the same weekday, so the cyclic weekday pattern is broken at this point for simulations which cross the year end. The pattern is also broken in a similar way for leap years, where one year is 52 weeks and two days. However, one can preserve this pattern over the year end by ticking ‘Maintain weekday continuity across year end (with no holidays)?’
Note that if the user carries out a year-end-crossing simulation with this option enabled, then 1st January from the second year of the simulation will be associated with the specified weekday.
Section: Holidays
In ApPro, daily profiles may be assigned to the 7 days of the week plus a holiday day-type. The holiday day-type applies to days defined as holidays in the Simulation Calendar.
The simplest way to set a holiday pattern is by selecting a Holiday Template. Holiday Templates are available for many regions of the world. You can also create your own Holiday Templates.
Holidays appear in the list displayed in the centre of the dialog. A holiday is a single day of the year, and has the following user-editable attributes. Holiday Name can be any suitable text string.
Specification Mode specifies how the holiday is defined. The options are:
Day/Month (fixed). Assigns the holiday to a specified day of a specified month – for example the 1st of January. If this day falls on a weekend or another holiday it is ignored.
Day/Month (or next weekday). Assigns the holiday to a specified day of a specified month, or, if this falls on a weekend or another holiday, to the next available weekday.
Day/Month (or nearest weekday). Assigns the holiday to a specified day of a specified month, or, if this falls on a weekend or another holiday, to the nearest available weekday.
Weekday/Week. Assigns the holiday to a specified weekday of a specified week – for example Wednesday in week 32.
Weekday/Month. Assigns the holiday to a specified weekday of a specified month – for example the fourth Thursday in November.
In each case, the details of the holiday are specified in the ‘Definition’ field. Note that, if the calendar is set to leap year, the user may enter 29th February as a holiday. If the user adds such a holiday to the list of holidays and subsequently reverts to a non-leap year calendar, they will be prompted to remove the 29th February entries.
‘Add Holiday’ adds a holiday to the list.
‘Edit Holiday’ edits the currently selected holiday. The data is edited in a pop-up dialog. Another way to edit an existing holiday is to double-click an entry in the holiday list.
‘Delete Holiday’ deletes the currently selected holiday.
‘Save As Template’ saves the current holiday list as a Holiday Template for use in other projects. You will be prompted to supply a suitable name for the Template.
The Simulation Calendar at the bottom of the dialog displays the currently set holidays with yellow markers.
‘Highlight Week’ allows you to identify a numbered week, as used by the ‘Weekday/Week’ Specification Mode. Enter the number of the week, which will then be displayed in the Calendar. Numbered weeks always run from Monday to Sunday, with Week 1 ending on the first Sunday in the year.
