Pushing even more boundaries in simulation...

I like to stretch the bounds of simulation. The attached image represent a new level of complexity beyond what I have explored in the past (Linkedin only allows one image so there is no space for a wireframe view but the portion of the Radiance rendering gives a hint).

In the 2nd level everything you can see in the image is thermophysically real - each desk, chair, filing cabinet, window frame as well as the stairs are composed of explicit surfaces. You might be able to make out the explicit ducts and air-handlers in the ceiling void. There are thousands of visual entities in the ESP-r model to assist with glare studies. I am just about to cross 90 zones & 5000 surfaces.

Thermophysically real as in.... full radiation view-factors, full insolation calculations, glare sensors and asymmetric radiation sensors at every workstation on the 2nd level along with a contaminate dispersal model. Quite a bit of the open plan area in this level is within a CFD domain (~1 million cells) to look at mean age of air as the simulation progresses. So we have a massive store of performance information that one can drill down into including the full energy balance at each of the 5000 surfaces.

Other parts of the building have a bit less resolution - in the first level I omitted the chairs and took the paper out of the filing cabinets and removed the glare and comfort sensors. The ground level has more of the internal mass removed but keeps the visual entities and substitutes ideal controls for the mass flow network delivery of fresh and conditioned air. There is method in the madness...the differing levels of resolution will allow me to see if there are noticeable differences in the performance information delivered. The inclusion of various levels of internal thermophyical mass to check the response of the building to environmental control actions.

As we push boundaries we learn. Ok there is also the occasional optical migraine while double checking entity attributes. And I will want to find a better way of creating ducts and stairs. And oh for a 4K monitor! The next area I am going to look at is explicit representations of not-at-all simple office equipment like photo-copy machines.

And yes I tweaked the interface to help deal with the compositional complexity. And there are alternative header files to support the compilation of ESP-r to support such models and I added many more pre-defined thermal/visual entities to support realistic internal clutter.