Boundary Conditions

Boundary conditions are surfaces such as interior adiabatic surfaces or the ground. They have to be defined as 3 or 4 corner surface objects in Rhino that are coincident with a thermal zone surface.

Adiabatic

If a surface is defined as adiabatic, no heat flow will go through it during a simulation. Adiabatic surfaces are colored in orange in the thermal model.

In the case of the ClimateStudio demo file, one may assume that the model only represents part of a larger building and that the three surfaces towards the West and North are adiabatic. The figure below shows how this would be modeled in ClimateStudio.

Ground

If a surface is defined as ground, it is assumed that it touches ground at the constant monthly temperature set under Advanced EnergyPlus settings. Ground surfaces are colored in green in the thermal model. Please note that nearly every thermal model needs ground surfaces as the building otherwise floats above the ground as if on stilts.

A default ground is provided for any new thermal model at z = 0. This can be deleted or turned off.

Back to Thermal Model.