However, after the simulation is finished, using the import IDF component to read the idf file, these air walls are identified as interior walls by the same select by type component, and the air walls option has no output at all:
The short answer for why the IDF importer component does not correctly identify the air walls is that the component is in WIP and is not complete yet. At the present, we recommend only using the IDF importer to visualize geometry after it is exported and not to bring back fully simulate-able zones from a file (for this, we recommend using the load/dump HBObjects components).
The long answer for why that component is still in WIP is that IDF importers are notoriously difficult to write. E+ has over 1,000 different object types and it takes a huge amount of time to write something that recognizes even a small fraction of these. As a result, I have ruled out the idea that we will be able to write something that can import all types of IDFs without issues. Notably, it will not be possible to write anything that restores HVAC systems since such systems are broken out into many different objects in E+. However, I have some ideas around this by outputting any objects that can’t be imported as “additionalStrings” that can later be reconnected to the simulation components. I’ll see if I can get this complete for the next stable release, which will include fixing this air walls issue.
In the meantime, thanks for letting us know about this and I’ll post back here once things are fixed.
-Chris
Thank you very much, @chris, for the clarification.
My objective is to have two separate workflows, one is just for creating the model and conduct the simulation, and the other is just for reading the results and other information such as geometry, schedule, material, etc.
I’ll try the dump/load HBObjects components as suggested.
