Ground Domain - General Tab

General tab on Ground Domain Dialog

Name

Enter a unique name for the ground domain component.

Category

You can select 2 types of ground domain objects:

 

In Grade Slab

On Grade Slab

Note: When defining a basement ground domain it is important to define at least one wall and one ground floor as being adjacent to any particular basement domain object.

 

Please refer to the above diagrams when reading about the various dimensions described below

Ground domain depth

Depth of the simulation domain (in m or ft).

Aspect ratio

This is the of ratio of the slab or basement length to width (when viewed in plan), used to determine the aspect ratio of the overall domain. This field along with the total slab or basement floor area, which is taken as the combination of all surfaces connected to the floor of the basement, are used to determine the size and shape of the domain. Aspect ratios and the inverse of aspect ratios should produce identical results. i.e. Aspect ratio = 2 is equivalent to Aspect ratio = 0.5.

Perimeter offset

The distance from the slab/basement perimeter to the domain perimeter (in m or ft).

Evapo-transpiration ground cover parameter

Numeric field specifies the ground cover effects used in the evapo-transpiration model at the ground surface heat balance. The values range from 0 (solid, non-permeable ground surface) to 1.5 (wild growth).

Simulation timestep

Selection indicating whether the domain will update temperatures at each zone timestep, or at hourly intervals. Options are:

 

Slab

Slab location

The slab location indicates whether the slab is in-grade (top surface level with ground surface) or on-grade (bottom surface level with ground surface). Options include:

 

Slab material

Select the material component representing the slab material thermal properties. Only required for in-grade situations.

Thickness

Thickness of the slab (in m or ft). Only required for in-grade situations.

Basement

Basement depth

Depth of basement floor surface referenced from the ground surface (in m or ft). This domain should be the distance from the ground surface down to the basement floor surface. In cases where the ground surface is below the main above-ground building level, a separate wall surface should be employed between the basement walls and the main level walls.

Mesh density parameter

Integer field indicating the density of the finite difference ground domain cells between the basement and the far field boundaries. Default value is 4. Total number of ground domain cells, insulation cells, and ground surface cells are indicated as outputs to the eio file.