The Ceilings of a Zone are distinct from the Floors of the Zones Zone, even if they share similar geometry & many features.
A Ceiling is created automatically when a Zone is drawn and might be automatically Split and Connected to any Floors on Levels above on creation.
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CEILINGS WITHIN THE VISUAL VIEW
Selecting
Ceilings are selected in the Visual View if the Floor / Ceiling Visual Layer is currently set to Ceiling on the Visual View’s Top Toolbar. For further information on the Floor / Ceiling Visual Layer see: Visual View Top Toolbar
Ceilings can also be selected within the Data-Grid within the Floor Ceiling tab.
Ceilings share the Select Parent context Context-menu item similar to most objects (or it’s 🖱 Double Left-Click mouse shortcut). In this case, the action selects the parent Zone of the Ceiling.
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Ceilings cannot be Deleted, instead they must be Merged back together with any Split ceilings Ceilings of the zoneZone. Ceilings are merged by using the Merge Drawing Mode which is explained in further detail in Split & Merge Drawing Mode
Area, Pitch & Pitched Area
For raked or sloped ceilings within a Zone, the Pitch can be entered in the Pitch column of the Ceiling Data-Grid in degrees.
This is the Internal Pitch of the Internal Ceiling Layer of the Ceiling, and not the pitch of the External Roof. The Pitch of the External Roof of a Ceiling is set by Hero automatically and cannot currently be adjusted.
The Pitched Area of a Ceiling is shown in the Data-Grid Area column in square metres and represents gross area not accounting for any Skylight area.
The Area is the Pitched Area, in that any Pitch entered in the Pitch column will automatically adjust the 2D area of the Ceiling to account for the increase in area by any slope or raked Ceiling.
E.g. In a Zone with 100m2 floor area, if the Ceiling Pitch was entered in the Ceiling Pitch column as 30 degrees, then the Area automatically adjusts to 115.5m2
Splitting Ceilings
Ceilings can be Split into separate Ceilings within a Zone through various means.
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E.g. In the Kitchen/Dining/Living Room below which is modelled as a single Zone, the Ceiling changes from an Attic type (i.e. Ceiling is adjacent to a Roofspace Zone), to a “Raked” Flat Roof Ceiling section (i.e. is not adjacent to a Roofspace).
To model this situation, we would split Split the Ceiling into two using the Split Drawing Mode feature (set to “Split Ceilings Only” Sub-Mode), and then assign the characteristics of the Flat Ceiling as required within the Ceiling Data-Grid.
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Automatic Splits
Ceilings are also split automatically Split Automatically by Hero when any adjacent Floors are detected on the Level above. This can occur after a new Zone has been created or when Floors or Ceilings are moved. .
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Hero’s Automatic Splitting Feature is a very handy tool that removes the requirement to manually split and connect adjacent spaces. However there are occasions where manual User adjustment or overriding of the adjacency & other construction properties (assembly & insulation) of automatically split Floors & Ceilings is required after a split. For example in the image below, a Zone’s Ceilings have been split into 3 Ceilings with 2 adjacent Internal connections to Floors above, but also a third Ceiling “CEIL 05” which has an initial default adjacency of “External” and Construction “FLAT-01” which is inappropriate. In this example, the User would be best to set CEIL 05 to Neighbouring Adjacency which will then trigger a Construction change & update too (typically to CEIL-01 assembly), as this section has an Adiabatic Adjacency condition that should be ignored in a Chenath simulation (e.g. no temperature difference, only internal mass of materials). |
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Offset Points
Ceilings can have Points added to their polygon shape after they’ve been created.
To do so, 🖱 Right-click Click near an edge of a Ceiling (not clicking a Wall) and Select select the Add Point action.
This will add a Ceiling Point at the location as well as to any adjoining Ceilings, and to any Floors at that location if appropriate.
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These Ceiling Points are also created when Ceilings are automatically or manually split by Hero.
Moving
Ceiling points Points can be moved around by left-clicking & dragging the ceiling pointswithin the Visual View by 🖱 Left-Clicking & Dragging the Ceiling Points. If there is a floor Floor Point sharing this pointPoint, it will also be moved. Similar to many move Move actions, holding shift ⌨ Shift-key while moving will lock the move in a straight horizontal ↔ or vertical ↕ direction.
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Auto-Merge Note that at the end of a |
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Move, Hero performs a check for whether the |
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Ceilings within a |
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Zone should |
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Auto- |
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Merge. This feature is required to reduce the number of |
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Ceilings that get created through splits & moving points. A |
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Ceiling will automatically merge back into other similar |
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Ceilings if they share similar properties such as Assembly, Insulation, |
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Colour & Adjacency type. If you have just split a |
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Ceiling and then are trying to adjust the points of the |
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Split, to avoid this |
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Auto- |
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Merging of similar |
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Ceilings you should change the properties of the newly split |
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Ceiling to the different properties that it represents before doing the move point, otherwise you’ll merge the newly split |
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Ceiling and have to repeat yourself. |
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CEILING
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CONSTRUCTIONS
Similar to Walls & Floors, Ceilings have a Construction or Assembly as well as Ceiling Insulation & Roof Insulation Options that defines the material makeup of the Ceiling for Simulation. . Theses are discussed in further detail in the Data-Grid section below.
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CEILINGS WITHIN THE DATA-GRID
Property | Description | Edited Within |
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Assembly | Hero has a variety of |
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Ceilings Assemblies that can be used, and these are visible within the Construction column of the |
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Ceiling Data-Grid. The current |
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Concrete slab on-ground types of various thicknesses
Concrete waffle pod slabs of various thickness.
Suspended timber floors, one unlined & one lined with fibre-cement sheet below
Suspended concrete floors of various thicknesses & lining.
And a suspended AAC or Hebel-type floor assembly
It should be note that the Suspended Timber floors are referring to Timber only as the structural material and that the Floor Covering determines whether the floor has timber floorboards or not, not the assembly selected in the Construction column.
The suspended timber & suspended concrete assemblies that are lined below are for use when the floor is suspended such as over a subfloor zone or over the external environment, and are not to be used when there is an actual ceiling from another zone below as the ceiling material will be added already to the assembly build-up.
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Assemblies include assemblies of the following Types:
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Floors that have an adjacent ceiling below them will not be able to change to a Ground type assembly such as Concrete Slab on Ground or Waffle Pod slabs and these options are not shown.
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Type | In addition to the Construction or Assembly of the |
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Ceiling, the |
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Ceiling Data-Grid also contains a Type column that is used for reference & information but that if changed |
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may change both the |
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Assembly and |
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Adjacency Type to the relevant defaults for that |
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Type as required. |
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Insulation
The insulation (if any) can added to a floor via the Insulation column of the Floor data-grid. There are variety of floor insulation options available depending on the Floor Construction.
For Slab on Ground assemblies the options are several common R-value underslab insulation products.
For Waffle Pod assemblies the options are the various thickness of EPS-foam waffle-pod void formers that lie below the slab. The R-values are the thermally bridged R-values that account for the concrete ribs or beams across the floor. There is also a uninsulated option in the list for non-foam based waffle-pods such as plastic void formers etc.
For Suspended Floors there are a variety of Insulation options that represent common insulation systems including:
No insulation – this would be used if the Floor was exposed directly below it such as a Timber Floorboard where the Floorboards are directly exposed & visible from underneath; or for a Suspended Concrete slab floor where the slab is exposed to the air directly underneath.
Non reflective air-gap – this would be appropriate for most common internal floors where between the Floor Covering and Ceiling below there is an empty air-gap if uninsulated.
a variety of batt insulation products
reflective air-gaps combined with bulk insulation options which would be appropriate to use to simulate reflective membrane insulation products such as Kingspan’s Permifloor, or reflective rigid EPS insulation products such as Foilboard, etc of various thicknesses & reflectivity.
Internal Floor/Ceiling Construction
When a floor has an adjacent ceiling below it, such as on a two-story dwelling, or between two apartment dwellings, the full material buildup for the assembly is determined by both the Floor & the Ceiling’s properties.
An internal ceiling can only have a plasterboard ceiling or exposed ceiling assembly applied to it; and the internal ceiling will not be able to have Insulation applied to it in the Data-Grid. If this internal floor/ceiling is to be insulated, the insulation gets applied to the floor above. The complete material build-up that will be simulated is the Floor Covering followed by the Floor Assembly followed by any Floor Insulation followed by the Ceiling Assembly below.
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See above Assembly row for details. | Type Column | |
Ceiling Insulation | A Ceiling has two Insulation Options, Ceiling & Roof, that are positioned accordingly within the Assembly. This feature was implemented to enable flexibility & rapid design changes to both common Insulation locations within the Hero interface. The Ceiling Insulation Option is the Insulation Material(s):
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Roof Insulation | The Roof Insulation of the Ceiling. See above Ceiling Insulation section for details. The Roof Insulation is the Insulation Material(s):
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Ceiling Pitch | For raked or sloped ceilings within a Zone, the Pitch can be entered in degrees. This is the Internal Pitch of the Internal Ceiling Layer of the Ceiling, and not the pitch of the External Roof. The Pitch of the External Roof of a Ceiling is set by Hero automatically and cannot currently be adjusted. The Pitched Area of a Ceiling is shown in the Data-Grid Area column in square metres and represents gross area not accounting for any Skylight area. The Area is the Pitched Area, in that any Pitch entered in the Pitch column will automatically adjust the 2D Area of the Ceiling to account for the increase in area by any slope or raked Ceiling. E.g. In a Zone with 100m2 floor area, if the Ceiling Pitch was entered in the Ceiling Pitch column as 30 degrees, then the Area automatically adjusts to 115.5m2 | Pitch Column |
Area (Pitched Area) | The Pitched Area (see above) of the Ceiling in Square Metres. Can only be adjusted as the Ceiling is moved & adjusted within the Visual View. | Visual View |
External Colour | The External Colour (and it’s associated Solar Absorptance) of a Ceiling can be selected within the External Colour column of the Ceiling Data-Grid. | Colour Column |
Adjacency | The Adjacency Type of the Ceiling (see below for full details) | Adjacency Column |
Roofspace Ventilation | Ceilings with a Roofspace Adjacency can toggle the Ventilation Rate of that Roofspace Zone through the Ventilation column of the Ceiling Data-Grid. Roofspace Zones & Ventilation Rates are described in further detail in the Zones section. | Roofspace Ventilation Column |
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Adjacency Types
Similar to Walls & Floors, Floors Ceilings have a variety of different adjacency conditions Adjacency Conditions that are determined by whether the floor Ceiling is adjacent to actual model objects or that can be selected manually be the user.
Floors that are adjacent to a Ceiling from the same dwelling, will have an Internal Adjacency type, and this adjacency type cannot be changed in the data-grid.
Floors that are adjacent to a Ceiling from another dwelling will have a Neighbouring Adjacency type, again this cannot be changed in the data-grid. Neighbouring adjacency types are simulated as adiabatic boundaries in the simulation .
Most “Automatic” Adjacency Types (i.e. those determined by Hero) cannot be changed within the Data-Grid Adjacency Column, whereas the Manual Options can.
Adjacency Type | Description | Editable within Data Grid | ||
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External | The Ceiling is directly adjacent to External Environment. This Adjacency Type is used for Flat Roofs where no Roofspace is present between the Ceiling & the External Environment. If Adjacency Type is changed to External within the Ceiling Data-Grid then the Assembly, Type and potentially Insulation may change as appropriate for an External Adjacency. | Yes | ||
Roofspace | The Ceiling is adjacent to a Roofspace Zone. This Adjacency Type is used for Attic Roofs where a large air volume is created between the Ceiling & the External Environment. When a Ceiling has a Roofspace Adjacency, Hero will automatically create a Roofspace Zone above the Ceiling, or if a Roofspace Zone already exists on that Level, will expand the Roofspace Zone to encompass the area above the newly changed Ceiling. If Adjacency Type is changed to Roofspace within the Ceiling Data-Grid then the Assembly, Type and potentially Insulation may change as appropriate for an Roofspace Adjacency. | Yes | ||
Internal | Ceilings adjacent to a Floor from the same Dwelling | No | ||
Neighbouring (Actual Connection) | Ceiling adjacent to a Floor from a different Dwelling.
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Neighbouring (Manual Selection) | Ceilings adjacent to a Conditioned Space that is not part of the Hero model (i.e. Adjacent Buildings, Commercial Spaces etc).
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Yes | |
Carpark | Ceilings adjacent to |
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For floors that are not adjacent to another ceiling below, then there are a variety of adjacency types that can be manually selected by the user to model specific conditions.
Floors of a ground-type such as Concrete slab or Waffle-pod assemblies have a GROUND adjacency type and if the adjacency type is changed then the assembly will be automatically changed away from a Ground type assembly.
Floors can have a Subfloor adjacency type, which when changed will automatically create a subfloor special zone underneath the floor, or if a subfloor zone already exists on that level, will expand the subfloor zone to encompass the area below the newly changed floor. Subfloor zones are detailed further in the Zone section of this tutorial and have many special properties.
If the floor is sufficiently elevated such that area below it does not form a subfloor zone, then the EXTERNAL adjacency type should be used. This represents a floor that is simply adjacent to the External environment temperature.
Roofspace Ventilation
Ceilings with a Roofspace adjacency can toggle the ventilation rate of that roofspace zone through the Ventilation column of the Ceiling data-grid. This is described in further detail in the Roofspace Zone section.
External Colour:
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an actual Carpark Zone that is part of the Common Area Dwelling | No | |
Corridor | Ceilings adjacent to an actual Corridor Zone that is part of the Common Area Dwelling | No |
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Ceiling Insulation & Roof Insulation
Hero creates a range of default Ceiling and Roof Insulation Options that can be selected for Ceilings with a Project. These are explained in further details below, with their typical description and use-cases listed below:
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Ceiling and Roof Insulations read from exterior to interior in terms of material build. You can hover the Roof Insulation column header in the Ceiling Data-Grid for a popup reminder of that inside Hero. |
Inside Hero, Roof Insulation Options (and some of the suspended timber floor Floor Insulations) can be a combination of Bulk Insulation & Air-gaps (which may be reflective, non-reflective, ventilated or not, and of varying thickness), or be just Bulk (eg some Roof Insulations of the Concrete Slab ceiling assemblies) or just Air-Gaps (eg sarking or membrane products only).
In Building Energy Modelling, it is not typically the sarking that is modelled in the Assembly (as most aluminimum or membrane sarking has R0 insulation for its 1mm thickness). It is commonly just the air-gaps created by the Sarking (which create the R-value) that is modelled, so for each situation it depends on how the sarking is installed rather than the sarking material itself.
Note given the limitations of the Chenath Material database, the thicknesses of air-gaps inside Hero’s Default Roof Insulation Options is meant to be more as a guide than a strict requirement (e.g. it does not need to strictly be a 20mm or 40mm or 90mm air-gap to use the below listed Roof Insulation options). Hero uses a default, nominal value of 20mm for air-gaps between a Roofing material and the Sarking product underneath it; a 40mm default for air-gaps created below the sarking layer for Flat Roofs; and 90mm for air-gaps created in Roofspace Attic Ceiling types.
Some Building Energy Modellers will not wish to model the outer air-gap between the Roofing product and the Membrane (typically created in the roof batten air-space), as whether that is a still air-space adding a steady R-value can be debated, and so Hero provides a variety of options for both paths . This is why in the Default Roof Insulations there is both a single non-reflective air-gap option, and then a double-sided non-reflective air-gap option. Users who would like to model the outside roofing batten air-space can use the second option, otherwise use the first.
Roof Insulation Option | Detail | |
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| 1 | 40mm Non-Refl. Air (e0.82) (90mm for Attic assemblies) | A non-reflective sarking/membrane or no sarking at all (both scenarios are modelled the same in Chenath). |
| 2 | 40mm Refl. Air (e0.05) (90mm for Attic Assemblies) | A reflective roof sarking product (typically downwards facing with the top roofing batten air-space ignored) |
| 3 | 20mm Non-Refl. Air + 40mm Non-Refl. Air (90mm for Attic Assemblies) | A non-reflective membrane where two still air-gaps are achieved (i.e. above & below the membrane). |
| 4 | 20mm Non-Refl. Air + 40mm Refl. Air (90mm for Attic Assemblies) | A single-sided reflective sarking (e.g. only one reflective finish facing downwards but creating a non-reflective air-space above) |
| 5 | 20mm Refl. Air + 40mm Refl. Air (90mm for Attic Assemblies) | A double-sided reflective sarking where two still air-gaps are being achieved (i.e. above & below the membrane). |
| 6 | 20mm Refl. Air + R0.2 Bulk Other + 40mm Refl. Air (90mm for Attic Assemblies) | A double-sided reflective sarking with some thin foam core (such as some Kingspan Aircell products etc.), creating two reflective air-spaces (i.e. above & below the core). |
| 7 | R1.3 Bulk (or R1.8/R2.5) + 40mm Refl. Air (90mm for Attic Assemblies) | A Roof Insulation Blanket with reflective downward facing foil (such as Anticon etc). |
| 8 | R1.3 Bulk (or R1.8/R2.5) + 40mm Non-Refl. Air (90mm for Attic Assemblies) | A Roof Insulation Blanket with no reflective finish (but creating a small air-space between ceiling insulation & roof insulation). |
| 9 | 40mm Refl. Air + R1.3 Bulk (or R1.8/2.5) (90mm for Attic Assemblies) | A Roof Insulation Blanket with reflective air-gap facing towards Roof (upwards). (not common but some manufacturer literature still occasionally show this type of install for really hot or tropical climates) |
In future releases of Hero, you’ll be able to customise these Roof Insulation Options further as required (similar to custom Wall Insulation Options).