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Hi all
I modeled my single zone building on type56. The ground floor of the building is a boundary wall and is in direct contact with the soil underneath. Since I have declared it as a boundary wall, type56 asks for a Tboundary from me. The Type49 Slab on grade can estimate this local boundary temperature based on the heat exchange between soil and the zone. I have dug deeper on type49 but I found that it requires soil noding data for the model. I am not familiar with how to create a similar noding data file and will appreciate any information about how I can create one for my project.
Thanks in advance
Abir
Pages 4-393 and 4-394 of the Mathematical Reference volume of the documentation (in the Documentation folder of your main TRNSYS directory) cover the soil noding file format for Type 49. There is also an example Slab on Grade project and a few sample soil noding data files in the Examples/Slab on Grade folder of your main TRNSYS directory.
If you have SketchUp installed on your machine, there is a SoilNoding plug-in you can use with SketchUp to help generate the soil noding file. Since this is a single-zone model, if the footprint is not too complicated, it may be easier to use Excel or another spreadsheet program to calculate the soil node sizes and sum the number of nodes in each direction, then just write the file manually in any text editor.
For example, if I wanted to model a 12-m x 10-m floor, assume a farfield distance (the distance at which the ground temperature is not noticeably affected by the building) of 20-m, and use a minimum node size of 0.2-m and a growth factor of 2, my noding file would look like:
24 24 7 0 !NX_total, NY_total, NZ_total, NZ_footer 7.4 6.4 3.2 1.6 0.8 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.8 1.6 3.0 3.0 1.6 0.8 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.8 1.6 3.2 6.4 7.4 !Length of nodes in x-direction (meters) 7.4 6.4 3.2 1.6 0.8 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.8 1.6 2.0 2.0 1.6 0.8 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.8 1.6 3.2 6.4 7.4 !Width of nodes in y-direction (meters) 0.2 0.4 0.8 1.6 3.2 6.4 7.4 !Depth of nodes in z-direction (meters) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
In the file above, on the x-direction and y-direction node sizing lines, the first 7 nodes sum to 20-m and decrease from the farfield to the minimum small size, the next 10 nodes sum to 12-m (x-direction) or 10-m (y-direction) and are at the minimum small size at the edges and grow towards the center, and the final 7 nodes again sum to 20-m and increase from the minimum small size towards the farfield. The 24x24 grid of 1's and 0's that follows the z-direction node sizing represents whether each x,y node at the surface is beneath the building floor (=1) or outside the building and exposed to the ambient air (=0). If this were a multi-zone building with multiple floors, each # > 0 would represent the footprint of a different zone floor connected to the ground.
TM Abir Ahsan Topic starter
11/07/2023 9:30 pm
@a_weiss Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I have sketch up and I want to use the TESS soil noding extension to generate the soil noding file. I have set up the input in the plugin correctly. but I do not know how and where the file will be generated.
A_Weiss 12/07/2023 9:06 pm
@tm-abir-ahsan On my machine, the soil noding extension saved the soil noding file in my Documents folder, as [SketchUp project name]_Soil Noding File.dat
TM Abir Ahsan Topic starter
01/08/2023 3:32 am
@a_weiss It worked! I was doing it wrong. I was giving trying to generate the soil noding using the entire 3D model in sketchup. After giving it the only two dimensional floor it worked. Thanks A_weiss for your help. Apologies for the late gratitude.
