Questions Regarding ResultsViewer

I am new to OpenStudio and EnergyPlus application and I have several questions about the ResultsViewer:

So I have tried to run the simulation with 6 timesteps per hour and I got the results. However, when I tried to open the ResultsViewer from the tree-view tab it really takes too long to show the graphs or other results (I tried to open the people air temperature and even after 8 or more hours it still didn't open, it just shows "Generating Line Plot"). Why can't it show any results? Is it because I was at another tab while ResultsViewer generates the line plot or are there other reasons?
Side question, what is a timestep? What effect does it do to the overall simulation?

By the way, I used SketchUp 2017 for the modelling and I use OpenStudio ver.1.14.0 and EnergyPlus ver8.6.0. Sorry for being pushy but I need the answer urgently, I am a student in a university and I need the results for my essay. Thank you.

alwintantowi

asked 2017-04-09 07:26:28 -0500

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__AmirRoth__

updated 2017-09-25 15:14:57 -0500

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When it's generating the plot there should be a status bar that shows % complete. I wouldn't try to click on something else in the viewer when it's generating.
A timestep is the interval at which it 'tries' to create a data set for the model. I say tries because if the air loops aren't converging, for example, it can actually go down to a smaller timestep. Six timesteps per hour would yield the model creating a data set every 10 minutes. Since most of the heat transfer equations are dependent on data calculated in the previous timestep you don't want the timesteps/hour to be too small, but at the same time making this number something like 60 would cause the model to run quite slow. It's a balancing act.

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Adam Hilton

answered 2017-04-10 07:43:45 -0500

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See this post on other ways to export data from OpenStudio. If you just have one variable of interest, it may be easier to just include an "Add Output Variable" and "Export Output Variable to csv" measure for it.