Sefaira shading not working

Extending SketchUp Sefaira
#1

I’m attempting to use Sefaira for some simple energy modeling. My first test was to see how shading affected solar gain on a simple rectangular space with a south facing window. No matter how much shading I put over the window the energy computations do not change. I have tagged all elements with Sefaira types.

Sefeira Problem
Sefeira Problem2880×3600 562 KB

I uploaded this model to the web version of Sefaira, with the same result. I built a new model to see if it was something wrong with the model, but no dice. And parametric shading also does not affect the model. So, I’m baffled. What am I doing wrong?

#2

Hi @mattbucy

Not sure what might be happening here. Would you mind sharing the model with us? That way we can check to see what might be going on.

#3

Shading Not Working.skp (409.1 KB)

Here’s the model. It’s a six sided rectangular volume, south side glass, with a large shade over it. No matter how big or small I make the shade there is no change in energy modeling. Removing the shading has no effect either.

Thanks.

#4

Hi @mattbucy,

Thanks for sharing the model with me. I had seen something like this in the past and realize that the window needs to sit inside a wall surface for the energy model (EnergyPlus) to register both the window and wall properly. Like in the image you see below. Conversely, the daylight model works fine regardless, since Radiance/Daysim the daylight engines are much forgiving when it comes to reading geometry for daylight analysis.

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31315×798 82.4 KB

Once I made a small offset and tagged that offset as wall, the analysis registers the effect the shading surface has on the annual energy consumption for this building.

With shading:

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11181×874 306 KB

Without shading

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2967×886 282 KB

Hope this helps.

#5

Awesome. Thank you! I noted in the checklist skylights are called out as requiring a frame, but not windows. Perhaps that ought to be changed to all glazing.

#6

Great. Glad to hear that @mattbucy. Any chance you can point me to the document you are referring to? So I can make the change on there.

#7

It’s this page: https://support.sefaira.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011300577-Model-checklist-for-SketchUp-models

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#8

Great. Thanks for sharing that, Matt. I’ve gone ahead and updated the article as well. :slight_smile:

1 Like