Re: [TRNSYS-users] TRNBUILD / SKETCHUP Malfunction

Gabriel,
There doesn't appear to be anything corrupted about the *.idf file you sent. All of the things that are going wrong with it can be fixed. My recommendation, however, would be to start over and import the *.idf into TRNBuild for checking a number of times as you build the model geometry one zone at a time.

First, draw the crawlspace zone in SketchUp/Trnsys3d and make sure that it's bottom is set as GROUND_FLOOR with "Ground" as the outside boundary condition. Make sure too that the "ceiling" of the crawlspace is red and that it is recognized as ROOF_EXT. Save the *.idf, open TRNBuild and select File: Import Trnsys3d. Verify things like wall/floor areas and volumes. There is no need to keep the imported file; at this point you're just checking geometry.

Go back to SketchUp and draw the extents of one of the three ground floor zones (BEDROOM_GND perhaps) on the roof of the CRAWLSPACE zone. Create a new zone and draw BEDROOM_GND. Do the automatic surface matching procedure then go back and verify that the floor of BEDROOM_GND and the ceiling of CRAWLSPACE have discovered each other. Save the *.idf with a new name, open TRNBuild and select File: Import Trnsys3d. Verify things like wall/floor areas, volumes, and adjacencies. If there is anything at all wrong throw away the file and go back to fix it in SketchUp.

I have had weird things happen in this process more times than I care to admit. The best advice I can give is to check the import to TRNBuild manually ( as opposed to using the wizard that creates a 3d building project automatically) after every single zone that you add.

I have tried to address some of your specific questions below:

-- After drawing the zones and surfaces appropriately they always come up inaccurate. I end up having to select face type, reverse faces or use surface matching.

this definitely happens from time to time. It should not happen every time though. I draw my zones as though they were a wire frame using the pencil tool. I stay away from the automatic shapes and from the extrusion tool unless they are absolutely necessary (like when you have a circular floor plan zone).

-- Surface matching doesn't seem to do anything

you have to go back to individual surfaces and check them. Surface matching does not display a message saying that it is done or that it succeeded or failed. In more complicated models it can take awhile to complete in which case you'll see a progress bar in the lower left corner of the window.

-- After importing to TRNBuild it generates errors on ADJ Ceilings and says they are not found with the related zone faces set as undefined.

again, this can happen sometimes. It should not be an all the time thing.

-- I tried importing the raw Sketchup file without changing the faces or flipping anything and there were no errors in TRNBUILD

I suspect that all of the walls are set to EXT_WALL in that case and that there are no adjacencies between any of the zones.

-- I then tried to modify the faces in TRNBUILD instead of sketch up but I could only change the wall type. The category section was greyed out and the change doesn't seem to reflect in the surface properties at all.

the geometry information is being inherited by TRNBuild from SketchUp. Changes that you make in TRNBuild are not automaticlly exported back to SketchUp. I would not recommend making this kind of change in TRNBuild.

There is a tutorial / manual for using Trnsys3d/Sketchup located in: ..\Trnsys17\DocumentationA4_3DBuildingTutorial.pdf. If you haven't found it already then it might be worth going through.

kind regards,
David

On 03/30/2018 13:48, Okafor, Nnamdi G via TRNSYS-users wrote:

Hello,

I need help with this please. I drew a building model on Sketchup with the TRNSYS plugin and imported into TRNbuild (idf and two b17 files attached). I am using Sketchup 2015 version. There are several problems and I'd try to simplify.

After drawing the zones and surfaces appropriately they always come up inaccurate. I end up having to select face type, reverse faces or use surface matching.

Surface matching doesn't seem to do anything

The interior ceilings which should be matched as adjacent ceilings are not matched appropriately and I had to manually set the outside boundary conditions to "zone" and outside boundary object set to the "appropriate zone name".

After importing to TRNBuild it generates errors on ADJ Ceilings and says they are not found with the related zone faces set as undefined.

I tried importing the raw Sketchup file without changing the faces or flipping anything and there were no errors in TRNBUILD

I then tried to modify the faces in TRNBUILD instead of sketch up but I could only change the wall type. The category section was greyed out and the change doesn't seem to reflect in the surface properties at all.

In summary. The software doesn't identify surfaces especially adjacent ceilings and surface matching plugin doesn't match the faces properly.

Adjusting these manually creates errors in TRNBUILD

Adjusting in TRNBUILD is only partial as the category is greyed out and the change doesn't seem to reflect in the B17 file

I hope this makes some sense. Thank you.

Best Regards

Gabriel Okafor|Graduate Teaching Assistant

Department of Mechanical Engineering

UAB | The University of Alabama at Birmingham

1150 10th Avenue South | BEC 257| Birmingham, AL 35294-4461

P: 205.835.9253 | gabrielo@uab.edu

uab.edu

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