increase speed to load apply measure now window

Hi I noticed that as the openstudio model gets bigger, it takes longer to load the "apply measure now" window. In my case it takes 10+ min to open that window and another 15min+ to show up the options after you select the measure in the window.

What's affecting the loading speed for openstudio measures? model size, number of measures in the library, etc?

And is there any way to speed up this process, or apply measure outside of the openstudio interface if that helps?

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xchen

asked 2020-01-15 12:10:32 -0500

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@xchen, that is not normal at all. What version of OpenStudio are you using and what is your operating system. Two things that impact how long Apply Measures now or the Measures Tab are the number of measures in your "MyMeasures" and BCL directory and possibly model size as it relates to forward translation, but that should be pretty quick. I'm wondering if either your measures or your model are in a network drive or a drive synced with service like DropBox or GoogleDrive that may be slowing down access to files? I would consider slow 30-60 seconds, still far quicker than what you are seeing.

David Goldwasser (2020-01-15 12:20:20 -0500) edit

I'm using v2.8.1 on Win10. Both my model and the measures/BCL are on my local disk. I have about 70 measures in the measure folder, which i assume is not a lot. My OS model size is about 33M. It loads pretty quick on a small model under these same configuration. So I guess it's the model size? Is there any way to apply the measure outside openstudio?

xchen (2020-01-15 12:27:28 -0500) edit

Do you mind sending the model to OpenStudio@NREL.gov so I can try it out. The size of the model and that number of measures really should not cause a problem. I suspect there is some measure there with bad code in the arguments section. One way you could test this would be to quit OpenStudio, then rename your BCL directory to something like "xBCL". When you re-launch OpenStudio it will make a new clean BCL directory. If that is now quick it will help narrow things down. I realized I forgot to tell you how to run measures without GUI, I'll make an answer.

David Goldwasser (2020-01-15 14:10:32 -0500) edit

Sorry I can't send you the model due to project restrictions. I tried recreating the BCL. It helps a little but it still takes 10 mins to load the content of the measure after clicking on it in the "apply measure now" window. The long loading time happens only when I use it on big projects. It loads almost instantaneously with small model.

xchen (2020-01-16 10:51:26 -0500) edit

@xchen, if you have this model open and go the file menu and choose "Export > IDF" from the file menu does it also take that long, or is the export happen quickly. Also is the 10 minutes you refer to the time time until the dialog with the list of measures shows up or the time to see the argument fields for a specifically selected measure?

Instead of just file size on your model, can you share rough numbers for number of surfaces and number of zones, that doesn't always correlate well to file size.

David Goldwasser (2020-01-16 12:48:52 -0500) edit

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The OpenStudio CLI allows you to take a user specified seed model and weather file, and string together one or more measures.

There are a number of example workflows, but here is one I've used recently that has some different model articulation workflows that pull measures from other code repositories. You can checkout this repository and others mentioned in the readme file.

Updated Answer regarding apply measure now responsiveness:

It seems like most of the time is due to forward translation of the model that occurs to pass workspace (IDF) to the arguments section of the measures. Forward translation has validation performance that is non-linear related to model size. I would also point out that with a model of 1300 zones and 13,000 spaces you may want to try to by script as much as possible and avoid GUI's. The space tab and surfaces sub tab would almost certainly not perform or perform well with this model. Another question to ask is to confirm that the level of detail of the model is appropriate for the use case. Are there this many zones because there is a need for the energy model simulation, or did it for example just come in from an architectural model that had this level of detail? I would expect the runtime in EnergyPlus to also be very long, not sure if you have done test runs yet?

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David Goldwasser

answered 2020-01-15 14:20:07 -0500, updated 2020-01-16 15:59:40 -0500

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agree, I'm trying to avoid GUI as much as possible. And I am going to try CLI going forward. The run time is about 2 hours (at least half of the time is for the sizing runs), which is not too bad to me. This is a high-rise building (30 floors) and has different layout on each floor, hence the number of zones. I have tried simplify the inputs as much as possible, but maybe I won't go for openstudio next time with a building this size.

xchen (2020-01-16 16:13:05 -0500) edit

one more question, if I disable the sizing runs, will the model pick up the last sizing information for the equipment or it won't run since I didn't hardsize anything?

xchen (2020-01-16 16:15:29 -0500) edit

If you have a model with 30 floors and 1300 zones, even if they building takes up a full city block, you are probably modeling way to many zones. Remember spaces are not synonymous with zones; a zone should include all spaces on the same VAV terminal. I would model all spaces in a zone as the same space in the model unless they have substantially different schedules and loads. Any software you use is going to have trouble with a model this size.

mdahlhausen (2020-01-17 13:56:16 -0500) edit

in fact in this model i have even put multiple vav terminals under one zone (as you said since they have the same schedule and similar space loads). the actual number of rooms/spaces and the number of vav boxes on the design drawing is way more than 1,300. also i have a version of the model in equest with the same amount of zones/surfaces and it runs perfectly fine and fast.

xchen (2020-01-17 14:34:24 -0500) edit

so i checked the equest model, it has 850 zones (65% of the openstudio model), and about 4000 surfaces. my comment of the comparison above is not accurate. for the purpose of this post, it's good to know the limit of openstudio interface so that next time i can choose tools and plan work in a better way.

xchen (2020-01-17 15:17:21 -0500) edit

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increase speed to load apply measure now window edit

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increase speed to load apply measure now window