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Newly created Walls are assigned either the Default Properties of Walls such as the Default Wall Assembly & Default Wall Heights, or if you changed an existing Wall away from these properties, the New Wall will use this Previous Value.
E.g: if If you changed a Wall away from the Default Assembly to a Fibre-Cement Wall that is 2450mm high, then the next Zone created will have the new Wall Assembly as Fibre-cement at 2450mm height.
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Walls can be deleted by:
selecting the Wall within the Visual-View or Data-Grid and pressing
⌨ Delete; orby using the 🖱
Right-ClickContext-menuDeleteaction within the Visual View;by 🖱
Right-Clickinga Wall anchor Point & choosing theDelete Pointaction.
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When a Wall is deleted, the Walls to the left & right of the deleted Wall are connected so that the room remains contiguous. If you are deleting a Wall AnchorPoint, it will be the Wall who has this anchor Point as its right-anchor point that will be deleted. |
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Moving Walls
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You can also 🖱 Drag the corner anchors Points of a Wall to move that Wall Point and extend or shrink the length.
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You may also need to split Walls to change the geometry of a zoneZone, such as when you extending a zone Zone or shrinking it. In certain situations, you need to split the Wall to insert a Wall Point before you move it into it’s new position to create the desired final geometry.
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Property | Description | Edited Within | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Width | Wall Width is calculated automatically and can be seen in the Data-Grid Width Column. Width can only be changed by moving the Wall Points within the Visual View | Visual View (not editable within Data-Grid) | |||||||||
Height (Total, Base & Top) | Walls have a Total Height, and then the a Base Height which represents the Height above the Level height that the wall starts, and a Top Height which represents the Height above the Level height that the wall ends. For a typical wall, the Base Height will be 00mm, and the Top Height will match the Total Height of the Wall. The Total, Base & Top Height of a wall are all visible under the Height column columns of the Wall data-grid. Changing the base height Base Height will shift the topTop-height Height & vice-versa rather than effecting the total heightTotal Height.
| Wall Data-Grid Height Column | |||||||||
Orientation | The orientation Orientation of the wall Wall is shown in the Orientation Column of the Data-Grid and show the orientation of the wall Wall in terms of what direction the external side of the wall is facing (i.e it’s Normal Direction). | Visual View (not editable within Data-Grid) | |||||||||
Thickness | The thickness Thickness of the wall Wall is determined by the Assembly & Insulation selected for of the wall. This is the thickness Thickness that is shown in the Visual View, as well as in the optional Thickness column of the Wall Data-Grid (which by default is default hidden from view).
| Not editable directly (based on Assembly + Insulation) | |||||||||
CONSTRUCTIONConstruction | A wall Wall has a Construction or Assembly which is the construction build-up of that wall, including its external cladding, internal surface & any other materials within the assembly. Walls also have an optional Insulation Option which is the insulation materials specifically for that wall section that get added in addition to its Assembly materials. In Hero we separate the function of Assembly & Insulation is separated so that the user User has flexibility to change & test various insulation Insulation types quickly for each assembly Assembly & quickly optimise the passive design aspects of the house; as well as for its use as an important reporting metric. The Wall Construction Library tutorial provides further detail on Wall Assemblies & Insulation Options, and how assemblies Assemblies & insulation options Insulation Options can be edited or custom created. A Wall’s Construction in the Project is shown & can be changed within the Wall Data-Grid’s Construction column. The Currently Selected Wall Assemblies from the Construction Library will be shown within the Drop-down of this column’s entries and a new type can be selected.
Insulation Change on Assembly ChangeWhen changing an assemblyAssembly, if the new assembly Assembly contains an Insulation Option similar to the current insulation of the wallWall, this will be selected. However if there is no similar Insulation Option on the new assembly Assembly then the default for that assembly Assembly will get applied. For example in this example we are E.g: If the User was changing from a Brick Veneer wall with R2.0 insulation to a Single Brick Wall that has no Insulation Options in its list. When we change the assembly to Single Brick, the Insulation gets set to the default “No Insulation” option for that Single Brick Assembly. | Wall Data-Grid Construction Column & Wall Construction Library | |||||||||
Insulation | The Insulation Options available for that Wall Assembly will be shown in the Insulation column. You can select an existing Insulation Option by using the combo-box drop-down menu or you can type in the desired R-value in the table’s cell and hit enter; or for more complicated options you can create a New Insulation Option within the Wall Builder for that assembly. When typing in a R-value into the insulation column, if there is an existing Insulation Option for that Assembly that matches the entered R-Value it will use that Insulation Option, otherwise a new Fibreglass Insulation Option of the desired R-Value is created, assigned to the wall and added to that Wall Construction’s Insulation Option List.For Example in this Project, the 4 External Walls are all of E.g: in a Project with a Brick Veneer with Non-Reflective Sarking Type Construction. The standard Insulation Options for this Assembly are shown in the Insulation column of the Wall Data-Grid. However if the Insulation Option was desired to be a R2.7 Insulation Batt (not contained within the standard Insulation Options), we could model this by typing “2.7” within the Insulation cell and hitting Assembly, we see this R2.7 Insulation Option has now been created and added to the Insulation Option list for that Assembly. Alternatively if the insulation was a complicated combination of Insulation materials such as a Reflective EPS board insulation (requiring an air-gap + bulk insulation), we would need to:
| EXTERNAL COLOURWall Data-Grid Insulation Column & Wall Construction Library | |||||||||
External Colour | Walls can have their External Colours changed to model the different solar absorptances Solar Absorptances of different finishes. This is changed within the External Colour column of the dataWall Data-grid which shows a Colour’s name and its solar absorptance. The first three options are the defaults for standard Light, Medium & Dark, and then there are variety of custom colours that relate to various other colours such as typical Colorbond colours etc. | ADJACENCYWall Data-Grid External Colour Column | |||||||||
Adjacency | Energy-modelling is heavily concerned with heat-transfer, and the external External & internal Internal conditions on either side of the wallWall, along with the materials of the wall Wall determine its heat-transfer. Similar to many energy-modelling programs, Hero allows the user to specify different adjacency Adjacency or externality conditions for a wall. This is primarily viewed & assigned through the Wall Adjacency column of the data-grid. There are a variety of options that can be assigned to a wall depending on it’s state, however some wall adjacency types are locked and cannot be changed. The default adjacency is an External adjacency, meaning the outside face of the wall is facing the external environment. If a wall is adjacent to another wall and has been connected automatically by Hero, the Adjacency will depend on what type of Zone the adjacency is between. For example for two walls within a Single Home or Dwelling, the Adjacency Type is INTERNAL and cannot be adjusted. In this situation, heat transfer is modelled between the two rooms during simulation. For two walls that separate two different dwellings, such as in a multi-residential project, the Adjacency Type is NEIGHBOURING and again cannot be adjusted. In this situation, there is no assumed heat-transfer between the two rooms in simulations, and this represents an Adiabatic Adjacency, however the thermal mass of the walls are still accounted for in the simulation. For walls connecting a normal Zone to a Carpark or Corridor Zone, the Adjacency Type is Carpark or Corridor respectively and again cannot be adjusted to a different option. This is modelled similar to Internal Walls in simulations. Walls that do not have an Adjacent Wall, can have several adjacency types manually assigned in the Data-Grid’s adjacency column. These Include Neighbouring, which is used to represent Adiabatic situations where no heat-transfer is to be modelled similar to how walls between two dwellings are modelled. This adjacent type is used such as when a wall is adjacent to a neighbouring conditioned building that is not part of the Energy Simulation. Another Manual Adjacency Option is a Roofspace or Subfloor adjacencies. When this is selected, the Wall is modelled in the simulation with heat-transfer between the wall’s zone & the roofspace or subfloor adjacent. In many way of these situations, the base height of the wall will likely need to change, for example a bulkhead wall that is adjacent to the roofspace, will need a base height similar to the ceiling height next to the wall and this needs to be considered likewise for walls adjacent to subfloor zones.. Another Manual Adjacency Option is the Ground/Retaining Adjacency Type which models the wall as adjacent to Ground, Soil or a Retaining wall. In this situation, for Chenath Simulations, Hero automatically adds a 5m section of soil material to the external or back side of the wall assembly to simulation the thermal mass & temperature of the ground as per NatHERS Practice. So the user does not need to change the assembly type to add a soil layer in the Wall Construction Library as may have been previous modelling practice. ** EXAMPLE OF NEIGHBOURING BUILDING ** Floating Walls which are described in further detail later in this section, also are the only to allow select the unique “Mass” Adjacency Type which represents a Thermal Mass wall. |
SHADING
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See the Adjacency Type table below for further details. | Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column |
ADJACENCY TYPES
Adjacent Type | Description | Edited Within | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
External | The Wall is directly adjacent to External Environment. Standard / Default Adjacency Type for Walls | Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column | ||
Internal | Wall adjacent to another Wall from the same Dwelling | Not editable (set on actual connection) | ||
Neighbouring (Actual Connection) | Wall adjacent to another Wall from a different Dwelling.
| Not editable (set on actual connection) | ||
Neighbouring (Manual Selection) | Wall adjacent to a Conditioned Space that is not part of the Hero Project model (i.e. Adjacent Buildings, Commercial Spaces etc).
| Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column | ||
Roofspace (This Level) | The Wall is adjacent to a Roofspace Zone from Ceilings of the same Level.
| Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column | ||
Roofspace (Level Below) | The Wall is adjacent to a Roofspace Zone from Ceiling of the Level Below. E.g: A Wall on Level 2 of a House is connected to the Roofspace that is formed by Ceilings on Level 1. This Wall should use the Roofspace (Level Below) Adjacency Type | Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column | ||
Subfloor (This Level) | The Wall is adjacent to a Subfloor Zone from Floors of the same Level.
| Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column | ||
Subfloor (Level Above) | The Wall is adjacent to a Subfloor Zone from Floors of the Level Above. E.g: A Wall on the Ground Floor of a House is connected to the Subfloor that is formed by Floors on Level 1 (above the Ground Level). This Wall should use the Subfloor (Level Above) Adjacency Type | Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column | ||
Carpark | Walls adjacent to an actual Carpark Zone | Not editable (set on actual connection) | ||
Corridor | Walls adjacent to an actual Corridor Zone | Not editable (set on actual connection) | ||
Retaining / Ground | Wall is adjacent to the Ground or a Retaining Wall
| Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column | ||
Mass Wall | A Internal Thermal Mass Wall completely within a Zone. Can only be applied to Floating Walls. | Wall Data-Grid Adjacency Column (Floating Walls only) |
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SHADING
Walls can have Shading Objects that can affect the way they are simulated, these include:
Screens: Being screened by up to 3 vertical shading objects or Screens in front of the wall. This is detailed further in the Screen Model section.
Eaves: A single horizontal shading object or Eave over the top of the wall. This is detailed further in the Eave Model section.
A left & right wing-wall which are shading Wing Walls (Left & Right): Shading objects projecting from the left & right edges of the wall.
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It should be noted that any shading objects connected to a |
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Wall likewise shade any |
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Windows or |
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Doors upon that wall in a similar manner. |
Walls can be attached to Screens & Eaves using the Attach Screen and Eave Drawing Mode which is detailed further in this tutorial series Screen & Eave Drawing Modes. Alternatively you can also attach Attach a screen Screen or eave Eave to a wall Wall by accessing the 🖱 Right-Click context menu on a wall Wall and selecting Connect to Screen or Eave and then click 🖱 Left-Click the desired screen Screen or eave Eave to connect the wall Wall to the screen Screen or eaveEave.
Internal walls and many other types of wall adjacencies such as Neighbour & Roofspace adjacent walls cannot have any shading applied to them.
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