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This Tutorial Section discusses in detail how Walls are modelled, used & some of their properties within Hero, including how they are integrated into the Visual & Data-Grid Views.
All Zones are completely bounded by Walls along their edges, and when a Zone is initially drawn, the Walls for that Zone are created automatically. If required, the newly created Walls will split & connect to nearby Walls from other Zones automatically. When two Walls are connected they are called Adjacent Walls in Hero.
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Walls can be split into new Walls by the Split Drawing Mode feature which is detailed in the Split & Merge Drawing Mode
You can also split a Wall vertically by the 🖱 Right-click Context-menu action Split Wall (Vertically). This will split the Walls & add a new Wall Point at that location.
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Two or more continuous walls can be merged back into a single Wall using the Merge Drawing Mode as detailed in the Split & Merge Drawing Mode section.
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WALL PROPERTIES
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 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 0mm, 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 columns of the Wall data-grid. Changing the Base Height will shift the Top-Height & vice-versa rather than effecting the Total Height.
| Wall Data-Grid Height Column | ||
Orientation | The Orientation of the Wall is shown in the Orientation Column of the Data-Grid and show the orientation of the 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 of the Wall is determined by the Assembly & Insulation of the wall. This is the 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 hidden from view).
| Not editable directly (based on Assembly + Insulation) | ||
Construction | A 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 the function of Assembly & Insulation is separated so that the User has flexibility to change & test various Insulation types quickly for each 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 & 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 Assembly, if the new Assembly contains an Insulation Option similar to the current insulation of the Wall, this will be selected. However if there is no similar Insulation Option on the new Assembly then the default for that Assembly will get applied. 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. 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 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:
| Insulation Column & Wall Construction Library | ||
External Colour | Walls can have their External Colours changed to model the different Solar Absorptances of different finishes. This is changed within the External Colour column of the Wall Data-grid which shows a Colour’s name and its solar absorptance. The first three options are the standard Light, Medium & Dark, and then there are variety of custom colours that relate to various other colours such as typical Colorbond colours etc. | External Colour Column | ||
Adjacency | Energy-modelling is heavily concerned with heat-transfer, and the External & Internal conditions on either side of the Wall, along with the materials of the Wall determine its heat-transfer. Similar to many energy-modelling programs, Hero allows the user to specify different 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. See the Adjacency Type table below for further details. | Adjacency Column |
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ADJACENCY TYPES
Adjacent Type | Description | Editable within Data Grid | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
External | The Wall is directly adjacent to External Environment. Standard / Default Adjacency Type for Walls | Yes | ||
Internal | Wall adjacent to another Wall from the same Dwelling | No | ||
Neighbouring (Actual Connection) | Wall adjacent to another Wall from a different Dwelling.
| No | ||
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).
| Yes | ||
Roofspace (This Level) | The Wall is adjacent to a Roofspace Zone from Ceilings of the same Level.
| Yes | ||
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 | Yes | ||
Subfloor (This Level) | The Wall is adjacent to a Subfloor Zone from Floors of the same Level.
| Yes | ||
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 | Yes | ||
Carpark | Walls adjacent to an actual Carpark Zone | No | ||
Corridor | Walls adjacent to an actual Corridor Zone | No | ||
Retaining / Ground | Wall is adjacent to the Ground or a Retaining Wall
| Yes | ||
Mass Wall | A Internal Thermal Mass Wall completely within a Zone. Can only be applied to Floating Walls. | Yes (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
Eaves : A single horizontal shading object or Eave over the top of the wall
Wing Walls (Left & Right): Shading objects projecting from the left & right edges of the wall.
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Walls can be attached to Screens & Eaves using the Attach Screen and Eave Drawing Mode which is detailed further in Screen & Eave Drawing Modes. Alternatively you can also Attach a Screen or Eave to a Wall by accessing the 🖱 Right-Click context menu on a Wall and selecting Connect to Screen or Eave and then 🖱 Left-Click the desired Screen or Eave to connect the Wall to the Screen or Eave.
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There are modelling situations where we need additional Walls to those created automatically on Zone creation & that bound the edges of a Zone. In Hero we call these Special or Floating Walls, in that they are not tied to the Edge or perimeter of the Zone. Floating Walls can generally have the same attributes as normal Walls, they can have Windows on them, and be attached to Screens, Saves & Wing-walls etc.
To Draw A Floating Wall use the Floating Wall Drawing Mode
Special Floating Walls can be used to model situations such as:
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E.g: In the image above, the Living room has a small spine wall of solid brick completed within the Zone that due to its high thermal mass, could effect the Simulation results. To model this Wall we create a Floating Wall, change its Assembly to the correct Single Brick assembly type and assign the Adjacency as Mass Wall. |
| Note |
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Remember Floating Walls are drawn from Left to Right in a facing outwards direction (i.e. to the exterior). A Floating Wall with an External Adjacency requires the correct Orientation for accurate modelling. See Floating Wall Drawing Mode for further details. |
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EXTERNAL WALLS FOR ROOFSPACES & SUBFLOORS
Special Zones such as Roofspace Zones & Subfloor Zones also can have their own Walls that are automatically generated by Hero and appear in the Data-Grid. This is discussed in further detail in the Special Zone section of this tutorial series.
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NULL WALLS - WALLS WITH NO ADJACENCY
The Chenath thermodynamic calculation engine that underpins Hero is based on 2D heat-transfers through surfaces. Therefore there are situations where Hero cannot properly model the true thermodynamic situation of walls where there are 3D heat transfer interactions.
The most common example of this situation is walls that are facing adjacent to the cavity of a stud-wall such as created between two internal walls. In this situation the heat transfer into the side of the stud cavity cannot be accounted for (as the heat transfer through the wall from wall face to other wall face is already being modelled). Hero will attempt to auto-detect these situations & if detected, will remove the Wall segment in this location.
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| Note |
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There are some occasions where these Walls are not properly Auto-detected by Hero, and you may see a "real" wall in the model adjacent to one of these conditions. In this case, Hero recommend setting these walls as having Neighbouring Adjacency Adjacency so that there is no heat transfer modelled on that segment. |
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