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Hi everyone,
What is the best way to model the window frame?
I remind these recommendation reported in manuals/slides, which appear to be contradictory:
- It is better to model the window frame as a Wall and set FFRAME = 0.
- the frame should be defined in TRNBuild (see slide attached)
Does “model the window frame as a Wall” mean that the frame has to be modelled in SketchUp/TRNSYS3D and then assigned the construction type Wall in TRNBuild, while the window frame fraction of the window, again in TRNBuild, should be set to 0?
If drawing the frame in SketchUp/TRNSYS3D is indeed necessary, what is the correct way to do it geometrically? I understand that it should obviously not be modelled as shown in the slide where the framed window is marked as “Doesn’t work in TRNSYS,” but I am unsure what the recommended workflow is.
I sincerely thank you in advance for your support
Warm Regards,
Silvia
Hello,
I’m not entirely sure about the best way to model the window frame in SketchUp. However, there is another software, Pleiades, which is currently developing a new gateway between Pleiades Modeler and TRNBuild. It is much easier to design buildings with this tool.
In your case, accounting for the window frame is more straightforward: you can directly define the frame fraction for the window, as well as the C-value (1/R).
During the export, a default WINID (14207) is used in TRNBuild. Therefore, the user must define or select the window properties directly within TRNBuild.
Below is an example illustrating the export from Pleiades Modeler to TRNBuild: I assigned a frame fraction of 15% to the window in Pleiades, and this is exported to TRNBuild as a value of 0.15 for each window.
Silvia, (@silviac)
I usually draw the gross window area (glazing + frame) in SketchUp.
For the benefit of users who haven't gone through this yet, the glazing system's properties are defined in LBNL's WINDOW software ( https://windows.lbl.gov/window-software-downloads) in which you define both the glass and frame properties. You then export the glazing system as a DOE-2 report and paste the information either directly into your *.b18 file or into one of TRNBuild's window libraries (w4-lib.dat).
Type56 does not use all of the data in the report and the TRNBuild window manager allows you to define different frame properties than you chose in WINDOW if you want to. That same window data manager allows you to set a new frame area ratio so that you do not have to go back and modify either the geometry in SketchUp/T3d or the data in WINDOW.
~david
