[BLDG-SIM] IESVE software

[CK Tang]

Dear all,

I sent an earlier email via yahoo but it was rejected because it from a 
yahoo acct. I attached the mail here again, see below..

Btw, Bob, the software flaky issue is probably true for most of these 
types of software, especially new developments. I encountered many 
crashes too...in my 10+ years playing around with these type of 
softwares. ... with ecotect, designbuilder, etc. But since 5 years ago, 
ies has cleared all these problems. One can hardly crash the program now.

Give it a try if you have the budget.

Regards,

CK Tang

John,

I have been using VE for almost 10 years now.

Its interface is very similar to esp-r, except that it runs on windows 
and easier to learn. The 3D modeling tool is ok to use, not as easy as 
ecotect or designbuilder. but the advantage is that is very stable since 
it has been developed based on esp-r modeler and it has been running on 
windows for more than 10 years now. It still have a few quirks 
sometimes... but never a real problem, allowing me to model fairly 
complex shapes in 3D that would normally impress my clients.

The thermal simulation engine was originally Apache from Oscar Faber, uk 
(i think), but have since been heavily upgraded and it is pretty 
impressive now with ability to study direct & diffuse shading  of any 
shape and tracking of solar gain into multiple zones, just model it in 
3D. There is no limit on vertices and zones. Outputs are easy to manage 
with ability to compare various factors at the same time to understand 
the physics of heat flow easily. It also incorporated the zonal airflow 
of esp called macroflo into it now for natural and hybrid ventilatino 
study. Outputs from thermal simulation can be exported out as boundary 
condition for CFD studies.

The CFD engine is only steady state at this moment, but easy enough for 
almost any engineer to use because it defaulted many values, therefore, 
only allow CFD studies in building only and only with rectangular grids.

The dayligthing and lighting simulation is done via radiance engine. 
they have provided a nice interface to radiance, thanks to Don Stearn 
that work on the original interface between esp-r and radiance more than 
10-15 years ago. It is easy to do radiance simulation now with iesve.

The air side plant modeling is very good. easy to model direct or 
indirect evaporation, heat recovery wheel, CAV, VAV and any other type 
of control system. However, the chiller and condenser part of the plant 
system is only represented via a COP curve that you provide. Adequate 
for most, but those that want to test out effectiveness of VSD on the 
condenser side will find it difficult to model it in ies (i think).

Unfortunately it is a commercial software by a commercial company... so 
it may cost a fair bit to get all the modules from IESVE compared to 
those free and almost free tools such as e+, equest, radiance, adeline 
etc. But I do think they are the market leader now for a comprehensive 
and yet easy enough to use software in building thermal simulation.

Energy+ with a good interface will probably be a good alternative too. 
Look around.

btw, if not mistaken, esp-r birthplace is scotland too, from ESRU of 
University Strathclyde. this explain the close resemblence between esp-r 
and iesve.


Kind regards,

CK Tang


Bob Irving wrote:
> More or less a complete suite of building sim software from 3D 
> modelling and visualisation, energy, solar gain, HVAC design, lighting 
> design, evacuation, CFD.
> See www.iesve.com. Documentation is good. Software is quite expensive 
> to buy esp the CFD. I don't like the interface, but maybe I'm not 
> clued up enough on the subject(s). Also, to my mind, the software is 
> flaky - it can create models in one module that others will crash on 
> and not tell you why. It may be the best there is.... For thermal sim, 
> EDSL TAS is better, but doesn't have all the other modules.
>
>     Bob Irving
>
>
> On 27 Apr 2006, at 06:07, John Aulbach wrote:
>
>> Hi Folks:
>>
>> I have just been made aware of IESVE software from a
>> company in Scotland. It appears to do a bit of
>> everything, from energy analysis to 3-D CFD to
>> daylighting in 3-D rendering. Does anyone have a good
>> handle on what this stuff actually is?
>>
>> John R. Aulbach
>> Glumac
>>
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