Results Viewer Data Display

When a dataset is loaded from a DesignBuilder simulation the associated eso and htm results files are loaded together. Depending on the data that was generated in the simulation, various tabs may be available:

 

  1. Timestep, Hourly, Daily, Monthly, Run period

  2. Hourly Heat Map

  3. CIBSE TM52

  4. CIBSE TM59

  5. Summary

  6. Summary Charts

 

Other topics on this page:

 

Detailed Results - Timestep, Hourly, Daily, Monthly, Run period tabs

To show detailed results for a particular interval click on one of the Timestep, Hourly, Daily, Monthly or Run period interval tabs. When one of the interval tabs is selected the Reports grid is displayed on the left of the screen with a list of the available reports available for the selected interval. On the right of the screen is the area where the graph(s) are displayed. The screenshot below shows the Results Viewer screen after loading an eso file and an associated htm file and before any reports have been selected for viewing in the Reports grid.

 

Reports grid

The Reports grid provides a list of the available reports for the currently selected dataset. One or more reports can be selected for plotting from the grid.

 

The grid display includes several columns some of which are always displayed and others that are optional depending on settings on the Graph tab of the Options dialog:

 

 

 

Sorting the Reports can help quickly find particular data. To sort the data by a particular column click on the column header that you wish to sort by. For example to see data sorted by Area click on the Area header. This will collect together all data for each zone, HVAC component, Environment etc. in the list. In the screenshot below the data is sorted by Area and user has scrolled to view all of the data for the BLOCK1:CLASS8X14 zone:

 

 

To plot a report on a graph, first select one or more reports on the grid by clicking with the mouse. Use <Ctrl>+left mouse click to add more reports to the selection set. Then use one of these methods to display the data:

 

  1. Select one of the toolbar options Add selected row to current graph or Add selected row to new graph.
  2. Right-click on the item in the grid to display a context menu and select the Add selected row to new graph menu option to add the report to a new graph.
  3. Double-clicking on the report in the grid will add it to the current graph (or if no graph exists it creates a new graph and adds it).

Selecting a graph

If you have more than 1 graph set up you can select the current graph by clicking on it. You will see the graph heading highlight in a different colour blue when selected as shown below.

 

Summary and Summary Charts Results

Summary tab

On the Summary tab you will find the summary results report generated by EnergyPlus in html format. This report consists of a series of tables containing simulation output results. It is the same report that is displayed on the Summary tab of the DesignBuilder Simulation screen after results have been loaded. Results tables can be requested in the DesignBuilder Simulation Output options.

 

For example the screenshot below shows the "Electric Loads Satisfied" summary table for the whole building.

 

 

The Summary report includes a useful Table of Contents which you can find at any point by clicking on a Table of Contents link to the right of each major header, e.g. at the top of the report, see below:

 

 

The Table of Contents includes a link to each major section in the report:

 

Summary Charts tab

This tab allows most of the annual summary results in the tables on the Summary tab to be plotted graphically in histogram form. For example the screenshot below shows "Peak Cooling Sensible Heat Gain Components" outputs for all cooled zones.

 

 

You can choose whether or not to include totals and empty entries by clicking on the appropriate checkboxes on the top right of the screen. Check the Show totals checkbox to display a histogram to the right with the building totals. Check the Show empty entries checkbox to show empty histograms when all values are zero.

 

You can also use the this tab to display graphical summaries of some aspects of model input data. For example the screenshot below shows wall and window areas, the window to wall ratio (WWR) for each zone for each of the 4 major directions.

 

Hourly Heat Map

The Hourly Heat Map tab is displayed when 1 or more report with data at hourly intervals have been loaded. It allows you to display a year or more of hourly data on one screen, with each day of the year displayed as a vertical bar and labelled on the x-axis and time of day on the y-axis and with each hour corresponding to a small cell. That cell is assigned a false colour based on the value for that hour. This way of displaying hourly data can be especially useful for quickly identifying diurnal and seasonal trends as well as periods of particular interest that may go unnoticed when only plotted as a time series.

 

To obtain a readout of the numeric results you can click on a cell and the Selected value is displayed in the top right of the screen . As you move the mouse across the heat map the Current value is also updated.

 

The Options dialog allows some hourly heat map display settings to be controlled.

Tip: Any hourly data can be displayed in heat map form including standard outputs, weather data and custom hourly data generated in additional IDF outputs or EMS scripts. See How to Generate and View Extra EnergyPlus Outputs.

Some example applications of heat maps include:

 

 

CIBSE TM52 Results

When loading an eso file that includes CIBSE TM52 results an extra CIBSE TM52 tab is displayed. Clicking on this tab reveals the summary TM52 results grid as shown below.

 

 

The table shows pass/fail results for each zone and for each of the 3 criteria. Each zone must pass 2 or more of the criteria to pass overall.

CIBSE TM59 Results

When loading an eso file that includes CIBSE TM59 results an extra CIBSE TM59 tab is displayed. Clicking on this tab shows the summary TM59 results grid as shown below.

 

 

 

For more information on how to interpret the results see the CIBSE TM59 Outputs section.

Working with Multiple Data sets

You can load as many datasets as required to a single Results Viewer session by using the Open Datasets menu or toolbar option. A list is maintained of all data sets currently opened in the Datasets toolbar drop list at the top of the window.

 

 

When you have more than one data set open it is usually helps to Include the dataset name in the legend to make it easier to differentiate between them. This option is set by default and can be controlled from the Options dialog.

 

Note: eso files contain 1 or more "environment", each environment consisting of a set of results for a separate run. For example, it is common for eso files to include results for 2 or sizing runs as well as a set of results for a main simulation run. In this case each environment is loaded to a separate dataset. The current dataset can be selected from the Datasets toolbar drop list.

Zooming

In some cases you may find that too much data is displayed on the X-axis at one time and you need to focus on a section (time period) of the results graph. You can use the mouse to do this simply by dragging a time region of interest to zoom in on data for particular days.

 

To return back to the original "un-zoomed" state, use the Undo zoom toolbar option.

Create Composite Plot

You can create your own "composite" report by summing or averaging 2 or more existing reports. To create a composite plot first select 2 or more reports of interest by left-clicking with the mouse. Hold the <Ctrl> key down when clicking to add new plots to the selection set. Once you have selected the source reports, click on the Create Composite Plot toolbar icon to open the Generate Composite Plot dialog.

Note: The Create Composite Plot toolbar icon is only enabled when 2 or more plots of the same units are selected.

Name

Enter the name of the plot to be created. This name will appear in the Report Type column of the Reports grid.

Area

Enter the "Area" of the plot to be created. The Area represents the area of the building or environment covered by the new plot. This text will appear in the Area column of the Reports grid. For example if the new plot is the sum of a set of electricity consumption data for all zones then the Area might be entered as "Building".

Calculation type

Data for the selected plots can be combined in one of two ways depending on the selection made in the Calculation type area of the dialog:

 

Crosshair and Tooltips

When you move the mouse over a point on a plot, a floating tooltip window appears with data for that point only. Left clicking with the mouse causes the value at that point to be plotted on the right hand side of the graph legend block and a black crosshair is displayed with a vertical and horizontal line centred on the point of interest. The crosshairs can be useful for checking simultaneous values for a range of reports. The value for all other reports currently plotted are also displayed for the current time indicated by the crosshair.

 

Tip: When the crosshair is displayed you can use the <Left> and <Right> arrow keys to scroll through the data.

Data Comparison

When exactly 2 datasets are displayed on a graph and there is only 1 graph, you can click on the Compare datasets toolbar icon to display the Comparison Metrics panel and the Difference bar. This provides some summary statistical data indicating how well the sample or modelled data fits with the reference or measured data. The screenshot below gives an example where 2 hourly weather datasets for the same location and year are compared. The blue line is for the most accurate "Actual" data based on hourly recordings and is used as the reference dataset and the red line is the sample "Design" dataset.

 

Comparison Metrics panel

The Comparison Metrics panel includes the summary statistical data listed below.

 

Tip: The Comparison Metrics panel is initially displayed in the top left of the screen, but it can be dragged to a more suitable location as required.

Difference bar

When the Data comparison function is active, a Difference bar is displayed above the horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of the screen (see screenshot above). For each time interval on the graph a coloured band is displayed to indicate how close the model data is to the corresponding measured value. A red band indicates that the model data is lower than the reference and blue that it is higher. The shade of red/blue indicates the extent of the differences with darker colours showing greater differences. In large datasets (e.g. a year of hourly values) this display can help you to quickly find data that deviates the most from the reference values.

Styling

When you create graphs with Results Viewer, they are styled (e.g. Title Font, Background colour, etc) using a default styling template. You can change the styling defaults to your own preferences by using the right-hand context menu on the graph pane. The following options are currently available:

 

 

If you make some changes and want to revert back to the default styling at any time, select the Tools > Restore Graph Styling menu option.

 

Any styling changes made to the currently open session will be made permanent once the session has been saved.