[EnergyPlus_Support] Trying to simulate a sunshade but having difficulties

["Mark" <wedge325@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

I'm trying to model a basic structure (its a tent) very low 'R' values as you would expect so I would presume that cooling and heating loads are high - I'm trying to push results to look for problems by using a weather file for Egypt!

The tent has a sunshade effectively enveloping the structure on 4 of its 6 sides with a 300mm stand off from the main tent so I expect a decrease in cooling load with the sunshade fitted however the summary results don't seem realistic, its as :

Without sunshade, even when the outside air temp is 45C the max cooling load is calculated as 38595878.06 J(Hourly) ie about 11kW which is not a great deal.  With a sunshade the figure drops dramatically and there is often less than 1kW of cooling required, even on the summer design day.  I should mention that the tent is about 6m x 8m and 3.5m high at the eaves.

I'm new to E+ but have to produce this as a wider part of a uni project (next step is to attach my model to an open loop GSHP) - I've read, re-read and tried to digest the reference material with quite a lot of success; this, however, is frustrating me.  I'm sure it ahs something to do with my zoning and quite possibly a lack of solar influence but I think the main part (of the sunshade model) is in my interpretation of 
surfaceproperty:exteriornaturalventedcavity.  Would someone be able to offer some advice on how to tackle such a problem?  My frustration is growing daily because I know that the output doesn't match up!

TIA

Mark



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