<font color="#336666"><font face="verdana,sans-serif">Just a thought- you might want to include Energy Plus now that it is open source </font></font>
<a href="http://bigladdersoftware.com/epx/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">http://bigladdersoftware.com/<span class="il" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,204);color:rgb(34,34,34);background-repeat:initial initial">epx</span>/</a><div>
And some other open source projects that might be bundled:<a href="http://bigladdersoftware.com/epx/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(17,85,204);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br>
</a><div>Radiance: <a href="http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/">http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/</a></div><div>jE+ <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/jeplus/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/jeplus/</a></div><div>Genopt <a href="http://simulationresearch.lbl.gov/GO/">http://simulationresearch.lbl.gov/GO/</a></div>
<div>Open Foam: <a href="http://www.openfoam.com/">http://www.openfoam.com/</a>
</div><div><br></div><div><div><font color="#336666"><font face="verdana,sans-serif">I have thought the way to modularly connect many modeling tools would be through a common interface.. Please let me know how your project develops.</font></font></div>
<div><font color="#336666"><font face="verdana,sans-serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font color="#336666"><font face="verdana,sans-serif"><br></font></font></div><div><font color="#336666"><font face="verdana,sans-serif"><br clear="all">
</font></font><div style="text-align:left"><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#999999"><i>Jeremiah D. Crossett</i></font></div>
<div style="text-align:left"><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#999999"><i>CleanTech Analytics</i></font></div><div style="text-align:left"><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#999999"><i><a href="tel:503-688-8951" value="+15036888951" target="_blank">503-688-8951</a></i></font></div>
<div><div style="text-align:left"><a href="http://www.cleantechanalytics.com" target="_blank"><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#999999"><i>www.cleantechanalytics.com</i></font></a></div><div><div style="text-align:center">
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<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 11:46 AM, Jake Zwart <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jake.zwart@sympatico.ca" target="_blank">jake.zwart@sympatico.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
Hi all,<br>
<br>
I have just finished a project where I needed to perform FEA analysis. I<br>
ended up installing CAElinux as a dual boot option on my notebook, and using<br>
Salome-Meca, an open source product that has an FEA solver competitive with<br>
the higher end commercial programs along with a decent GUI base pre/post<br>
processor.<br>
<br>
I have used esp-r for performing simulations on my own home. I have not<br>
used it for commercial or research purposes. So I have some but not<br>
extensive knowledge of the program, but have followed the comments on this<br>
list. The comments from a few years ago regarding the long term development<br>
of esp-r leads to this posting.<br>
<br>
Salome is a geometry creator and incorporates meshing tools. It contains<br>
all the primitives of points, lines wires, faces, shells and solids. A<br>
building, or a room could be considered a shell. For the purposes of FEA or<br>
CFD computations, the program has a built in interface to meshers, and can<br>
also accept commercial meshers. It is interfaced with Code-Aster to perform<br>
the FEA calculations. Finally it will post-process the results.<br>
<br>
The interface is a modern look and feel graphical user interface. All the<br>
commands that are used to build a geometrical structure are saved as a<br>
python script. Salome can dump the python script, which can be edited and<br>
then loaded again, for recalculation.<br>
<br>
Code-Aster, the FEA portion of the program, is actually a number of Fortran<br>
or C coded modules that are strung together in a python script. This makes<br>
the program extremely modular, and one area can be changed without affecting<br>
any of the other modules. Python stores the information output from each<br>
module for the next module to use.<br>
<br>
I have not used Code-Saturne (CFD program), but from what I can determine it<br>
uses python scripting similar to Code-Aster to control it. Then there is<br>
another program called SYTHRES, about which I don't know much.<br>
<br>
The programs are all open source, and are also compatible with a number of<br>
other open source programs such as GMSH, for geometry and mesh creation and<br>
Paraview, a well developed US government open post-processor. The FEA and<br>
CFD portions are actively developed by EDF the research arm of the French<br>
nuclear industry. I believe Salome, the pre/post processor is also<br>
supported partially by the EDF team.<br>
<br>
There are both similarities and differences in the CFD/FEA world, compared<br>
to building envelope/plant simulation world. Both require geometry input<br>
and post processing. esp-r uses results from FEA analysis to give more<br>
accurate foundation heat loss results. esp-r has a simple CFD module.<br>
<br>
Based on the comments from a few years ago, where there seemed to be<br>
interest in modernizing the programming and development environment of<br>
esp-r, and then learning about the above open source programs, it seemed<br>
that there might be synergy. I expect it would require looking at the core<br>
computational engine of esp-r, breaking it out into individual blocks, and<br>
have each block called by a python script. The current esp-r user interface<br>
can be maintained and/or ways sought to make Salome or other open source<br>
software work well for the pre-processing (building geometrical layout)<br>
stage.<br>
<br>
In this environment there would be options to use highly developed CFD and<br>
FEA code, chained together with building simulation code, to perform<br>
analysis that includes airflow in rooms and 3D heat transfer between the<br>
building or plant elements and the ground.<br>
<br>
I thought I would throw the concept out to see if there is any interest in<br>
discussing a building simulation program that is run from within a python<br>
script, and the flexiblity that it would allow, in a manner that would<br>
leverage existing open source tools to provide options in the CFD/FEA<br>
domains.<br>
<br>
Jake Zwart<br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br>
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