Modeling multiple stories

[adam.206054]

After having read Andrew's canonical thermal modeling treatise and every post I could find in the forum archives about multi-story buildings, I'm still confused.

Dr. Marsh suggests modeling side-by-side zones using the inside-of-the-wall approach and letting Ecotect figure out the zone boundaries using its fuzzy adjacency calculation. But how does this work with building floors stacked on top of one another, where the ceiling of one zone is the floor of the next? (Note that I understand the issues of model simplification using adiabatic surfaces; that's not the issue here.)

My question is further complicated by the fact that I am modeling a rather simple space, -- a two story commercial unit, but one in which the second story (and zone) is a mezzanine. I have tried using a void to close off the open space between the ground floor and the mezzanine but that doesn't seem to be working right. And I am not clear how to account for the thickness of the floor surface of the mezzanine (both for lighting and thermal mass purposes).

Any suggestions would be most welcome. I can post my model if that would help.

Thanks!

/adam

[cctvcaac]

Hi
1. This is a law: If two object overlaped (maybe partly or completely), then their alternate material is used for the overlaping area, and their primary material is used for each non-overlaping area. so their alternate material must be the same, if not, you can edit it by hand.

2. before insert a hole, you must build the floor and celing by a closed C shape from start point to end point(see the figure), because ecotect can not support the pure shape that including a hole.