Frame & Divider "Outside Reveal Depth" not forward translated

[brgix]

Issue overview

In EnergyPlus, fenestration outside reveals (search for Reveal Surface Fields) are initiated by an offset (or setback) of SubSurface vertices vs base surface plane (e.g. a 4-in setback between brick cladding and glazing). As discussed here, there are no observed issues with EnergyPlus' handling of Frame and Dividers combined with outside reveal vertex setbacks (when done by hand).

OpenStudio instead offers an additional WindowPropertyFrameAndDivider field, Outside Reveal Depth. The suggestion in this Openstudio Application tutorial (and in UMH posts) is that SubSurface vertex setbacks should be completed automatically during forward translation. This does not seem to be the case.

The issue could have been filed under OpenStudio Application's GitHub issues, but it seems preferable to submit an issue here given OpenStudio's Outside Reveal Depth attribute.

Current Behavior

SubSurface vertices are not offset (vs base surface plane) during forward translation, when linked to a WindowPropertyFrameAndDivider holding a non-zero Outside Reveal Depth.

Expected Behavior

SubSurface vertices should be offset automatically during forward translation.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Recover any OpenStudio model
2. Using the SDK, add a WindowPropertyFrameAndDivider, link it to one (or all) glazed sub surface(s) in the model
3. Ensure the WindowPropertyFrameAndDivider has a non-zero Outside Reveal Depth (e.g. 0.1m or even 0.5m)
4. Forward translate (e.g. using the CLI, the App)
5. Recover generated IDF - note if SubSurface planes are the same as their base surfaces

Details

The concept of an offset appears in 3 places in the OpenStudio SubSurface forward translation source code:

• initiated as a zero-length 3D vector
• in principle, offsets SubSurface vertices (yet as a zero-length vector, would have no effect)
• calculates a new offset vector by applying the Outside Reveal Depth attribute to the SubSurface outward normal (yet this offset doesn't seem to be reused elsewhere)

The Outside Reveal Depth implementation seems initiated, yet incomplete. Apologies in advance if I'm missing something obvious.

Possible Solution

Complete the implementation.

Environment

• MacOS Ventura 13.4, OpenStudio Application 1.5 (SDK 3.5.1)

Context

Linked to this UMH post. Thanks to @macumber for the source code links.

[jmarrec]

@brgix Thanks a lot for the detailed report. This is a regression introduced at 3.5.0, and it's my fault, sorry. https://github.com/NREL/OpenStudio/commit/bb0ca64300b0c395a02c46ae9a2884340fd4efce