VDOETutorial
VDOETutorial
VDOETutorial
0 User Manual
14 VisualDOE Tutorial
This is a basic tutorial that introduces you to VisualDOE and demonstrate its main features. The following set
of lessons will help you create a basic VisualDOE model for simulation. Advanced features of VisualDOE 4.0
are not covered in this tutorial.
2. More often than not the default template will not contain all the fenestrations, construction,
occupancy, utility rates etc. that are applicable to the building you wish to model. However, the
VisualDOE library contains a large number of materials, construction, windows etc. which could be
added to your project library. The following steps describe how to expand the project library to include
the items required for your project from the items present in the VisualDOE library.
3. Openings organizer: The opening organizer allows you to add more window types from the VisualDOE
library to the Project library. The project library contains a list of items you can choose from for the
current project. If your project has openings that are not available in the VisualDOE openings library,
the openings organizer will allow you to define new windows, and add it to your project library. This
has been addressed in a more advanced lesson. Click on the ‘Openings Organizer’ button in the
menu bar and choose ‘Openings’. This launches ‘Openings Organizer’ window. From the ‘Type’ drop
down list pick ‘window’. You will see a frame on the right titled ‘Project Items’. This displays the list of
openings that you can choose from for the current project. On the left you will see a frame for ‘Library
Items’. This frame displays all the window types that are available in the VisualDOE windows
database. From the ‘library items’ frame pick ‘6040 double clear’ by clicking on it. Click on the ‘copy’
button to add it to the ‘Project List’ frame. You select only one item to copy at a time (i.e. you cannot
make multiple selections for copying).The ‘Selected Item Description’ displays the window
dimensions for the highlighted window. You can add as many windows as you wish to by repeating
this process.
Similarly, you can add different skylight types to your project library as well. This time from the ‘Type’
drop down menu choose ‘Skylights’. Highlight ‘4040 double clear’ on the ‘Library Items’ side and click
on the ‘Copy’ button to add it to the project library. Click on the ‘Exit’ button to close this window.
4. Constructions Organizer: This works in a manner similar to the ‘Opening Organizer’, and helps you
add construction types to your project library. Choose Organizer|Construction. It opens up a window
similar to the ‘Openings Organizer’ with the project library items displayed on the right and the
VisualDOE library items on the left. Pick ‘Window’ for ‘Type’, and ‘Mass’ for the ‘Category’ field.
Highlight ‘6" Conc., EIFS 0.5", Mtl frm R-19, 70%’ and copy this selection onto your ‘Project Items’
list. As in the case of windows, you can add as many wall construction types as you wish to. The
‘Construction Organizer’ lets you add construction types for walls, roofs, floors, slabs, below grade
walls, partitions and ceilings. Walls, roofs and floors are divided into light or mass construction type.
Let us add a ‘Floor Construction’ type to the Project Library using the same procedure. This time choose
‘Floor’ for type and ‘Mass’ for category. Highlight ‘R-19 Mass’ from the Library Items list by clicking on it
and add it to the Project Items list by clicking on the ‘Copy’ button. The ‘Selected Items Description’ lists
the properties of the highlighted construction type.
Including a construction or opening type that is not listed in the VisualDOE Library, in your project library
has been described in an advanced tutorial lesson.
5. Occupancies Organizer: The occupancy organizer lets you create a new occupancy type or edit the
schedules associated with an existing occupancy type. This feature is very useful when the building
has specialized areas which operate differently from the rest of the building.
Click on ‘Organizer’ in the menu bar, and choose ‘Occupancies’. The Occupancy Data Organizer
window opens up and you will see two list boxes located at the top of the form. The list box on the left
contains items from your library, while the one on the right contains items in your project. Select
‘Retail’ from the library and copy it to your project by clicking on the Copy button. You will see the
properties associated with this Occupancy type in the Selected Item Description frame. Click on the
Exit button to return to the previous window.
6. Utility Rates Organizer: The utility rates organizer allows you to add appropriate utility rates to your
project. This works in a manner similar to any of the other organizers we have discussed earlier. Click
on ‘Organizer’ in the menu bar, and choose ‘Utility Rates’. Alternately you can click on the ‘Utility
Rate Organizer’ button in the bottom of the ‘Project’ folder window. The Utility Rate Organizer window
opens up and you will see two list boxes located at the top of the form. The list box on the left
contains items from your library, while the one on the right contains items in your project. You will
also see a ‘Type’ field, which has a drop down list of fuel types. Select ‘Electricity’ from the drop down
menu. The’ Category’ field lists the billing options – ‘Time of Use’ or ‘Flat rate’ charges. Choose the
‘Time of Use’ option. Select ‘PG&E A-10’ from the library clicking on it and copy it to your project by
clicking on the Copy button. You will see the properties associated with this Utility rate type in the
Selected Item Description frame. Repeat the same process for gas rates. Choose ‘Natural Gas’ for
the ‘Type’ field and ‘Time of Use’ for ‘the ‘Category’ field. Choose ‘PG&E GNR-1’ and click on the
‘Copy’ button to add this to your project library. Click on the Exit button to return to the previous
window.
In a more advanced lesson we will discuss how to add/create utility rates applicable to your project
but not available in the VisualDOE library.
At the General tab, central plant components like cooling towers, chillers, pumps, boilers are illustrated. Click
any component will launch another editor for viewing and defining inputs for that component. For this example,
we have one electric chiller and one fuel boiler, one cooling tower, and two sets of pumps for chilled water and
hot water. The other two tabs Cooling Management and Heating Management can be used to schedule how
chillers and boilers are operated if there are multiple ones.
You can leave everything as defaults. Click the OK button to save data and exit the central plant editor.
You can set heater type/capacity/efficiency, peak hot water consumption and hourly use schedule, water
supply temperature, and other inputs.
Keep defaults and click the OK button to exit the editor. Now we have our model ready to run.
This is a warning message reminding you that System_First_Floor has a constant supply air temperature set
to 55F without reset control.
If there are errors, you have to fix them and re-check the model again to make sure no more errors, and you
will see the following message:
This means no errors are found so far, but there may be some run time errors and you have to troubleshoot
using other VisualDOE features.
If there are more than one alternative, you have to select which ones to run by selecting one at a time from the
Project Alternatives list, and click the “Copy >” button to put it in the Simulation List. In this tutorial there is
only one alternative and VisualDOE puts it into the Simulation List.
1. Click on the ‘Standard DOE-2 Reports’ folder. Choose the following reports one at a time from the
‘Standard DOE-2 Reports’ frame (by clicking on the appropriate name) and clicking on the ‘single
arrow’ button to add it to the ‘Assigned Reports’ frame -
LV-A, LS-A, LS-B, LS-C, LS-D, SS-A, SS-B, SS-D, SS-F, PS-B, PS-E, PS-F.
2. Go back to the Simulation folder, and click on the ‘Run DOE-2’ button to start the simulation run. You
will see a DOS window appears after VisualDOE creates an input file for DOE-2 to run.
3. A MS-DOS window titled ‘DOESIM’ pops up and displays the status of the simulation. After this
window disappears – you can view the status on the ‘Simulation List – Status’ frame in the ‘Run
Setup’ window. You will be able to see the percentage of loads not met by the system and the plant –
once the simulation is complete, you can exit out of this window by clicking on the ‘Exit’ button.
4. You can also view the DOE-2 input, BDL, output, weather statistcis, and hourly reports files. Click on
‘Simulation’ in the VisualDOE menu bar and choose ‘View DOE-2 Files’ from the drop down menu. A
window displaying the DOE-2 BDL file pops up. Click on the ‘Output files’ tab to view the output
reports. A list of available DOE-2 reports is displayed as a drop down list in the ‘DOE-2 Reports’ field.
Choose ‘BEPU Building Energy Performance Summary (Utility Units) to view the summary of total
gas and electrical energy consumption by various components in the building from the dropdown list
of reports in associated with ‘DOE-2 Reports’. Click on the ‘Exit’ button to close this window.
Congratulations! You have successfully completed creating a VisualDOE model and ruuning a simulation.