For each of the surfaces enclosing the zone the following parameters are displayed:
No
Orientation
Inclination
Altitude
Altitude Range
Plan Perimeter
Type
Reversed
Area
Output Spec
Building Element
With the exception of 'Output Spec', the parameters in this table are non-editable.
No.
The number that Tas has assigned to this surface. It is occasionally used in error messages.
Orientation
The orientation for all surfaces except ceilings and floors is displayed as an angle in degrees, indicating the azimuth of the surface with respect to true north.
Inclination
The inclination defines the angle between the surface and the horizontal. A vertical surface has a inclination of 90 degrees and a pitched roof a inclination of between 0 and 90 degrees. Surfaces assigned the Orientations Ceiling and Floor have a fixed slope of 0 degrees and 180 degrees, respectively. A south-facing roof with a 30 degree pitch would be described by an Orientation (azimuth) of 180 degrees and a inclination of 30 degrees.
Altitude
The mean height of the surface above ground level. In the case of apertures this parameter is used in the calculation of wind and stack pressures.
Altitude range
The vertical distance from the bottom of the surface to the top of the surface.
Plan Perimeter
The hydraulic diameter of the surface projected onto the floor plan, calculated as four times the plan area divided by the plan perimeter. This parameter is used to apply a correction to the air flow characteristics of horizontal and sloping apertures, as explained in the Tas Building Simulator Theory Manual.
Type
Type is used to specify the space to which the surface connects, or links to, and whether the construction type (in other words wall, ceiling, etc.) to which the surface belongs is transparent to solar radiation.
There are five categories of Type, these are Exposed; Ground; -> <Zone
Name>; Null Link; Internal. The different types are described below.
Exposed - denotes an component exposed to the external climate, such as a wall, window or a roof.
Ground - denotes a component in contact with the ground.
-> <Zone Name> - denotes a component which connects to another zone.
Null Link - denotes a component connecting to a space which is not being explicitly modelled. The adjoining space is assumed to be at the same environmental condition as the zone being described. Null Links allow you to investigate the performance of part of a building, without modelling the building in its entirety. The thermal mass of Null Links is taken into account in the analysis.
Internal - denotes one side of a component which is contained entirely within the zone - i.e. a partition wall or floor. The mass of such partitions may have a significant effect on the thermal characteristics of the zone (for example reducing summer overheating) and they should therefore be included in the model. The two sides of a partition are represented by two Internal surfaces of the same area and the same building element (though with opposite orientations). If one surface is defined as a floor, the other surface will be a ceiling, and vice versa.
Side Facing Zone
When this value is set to 'Outer' it means that, viewed from the currently selected zone, the ordering of the construction's layers is reversed with respect to that defined in the Constructions table. Otherwise this value will be set to "Inner" and it means that, viewed from the selected zone the ordering of the construction's layers is as shown on the Constructions table.
Area
The area of the surface, defined as the average of internal and external areas of the component.
Surfaces with the same Type, Building
Element and Orientation
may be combined into a single surface to simplify the model and reduce
simulation times. Thus, for example, all windows of a particular type
on a south facade would normally be represented as a single window with
the combined area.
Output Spec
The 'Surface Output Spec' that has been applied to this surface. To apply a surface output spec to a particular surface, left click on the right hand side of the surface output spec box. This will bring up a drop down list, select the appropriate profile from it. If you select the <blank> option then any profile that had been applied to the zone will be removed. Only one 'Surface Output Spec' can be applied to a zone.
To remove all 'Surface Output Spec' profiles that have been applied to surfaces of the zone, right click anywhere in this table and then choose 'Remove All Output Specs' from the drop-down box (see Right-click Menu Options at the bottom of this page).
For more details, on creating a spec, please read the section: Surface Output Specs.
Building Element
The component's construction type, as defined in the Building Elements table.
Left clicking on a column header will sort the table alphabetically by that parameter. Left clicking on a column header again will reverse the order.
To change the width of a column, left click and hold the left mouse button down while the cursor is over the line that divides the selected column header and the column header to the right of it, and then move the cursor to the left or right then release the mouse button.
To change the width of the column so it is best fit, double left click on the line that divides the selected column header and the column to the right of it.
You will be able to quickly change the construction type that is applied to a zone surface by expanding the Building Elements folder in the tree view and then dragging a different building element onto the existing element name in the Surfaces table. Note that if you later re-export the T3D file and it still references the original building element, and you then merge with the TBD, the construction type that is used in the geometry file will be shown in the Surfaces table and you will have to re-apply the appropriate building element again.
When you right-click on a row in the Surfaces table you will then be able to choose from the following options:
Display Shading Information - opens the Shading Calculations window, where a grid will display the percentage of surface able to receive direct sunlight. The grid will give these percentages at each hour, from 1 to 24, for days on which the shading data has been calculated (for example, exporting the geometry with a step size of 15 days, shading data for days 1, 16, 31, etc. will be visible). Select the 'Shade cells according to value' checkbox to put varying degrees of shading on the grid squares to represent the percentage of surface receiving direct sunlight, where a grid square displaying '100%' will be coloured completely white, 0% will be completely black, and everything in between will be a different shade of grey.
Remove Output Spec - removes the surface output specification for the selected zone surface.
Remove All Output Specs - removes all surface output specifications that have been applied to surfaces within the zone.