I am modeling a mid-rise MURB in SketchUp and OpenStudio and there are a lot of stairwells. Do I have to model each step, or can I just apply a stairwell space type and an internal load to represent the material used for the stairs?
What is the purposed of modeling that you are doing and what is the effect in your results of modeling each stairwells step?
If you are calculating thermal loads or energy consumption my advice is to simplify the stairs. It is important to put the electric, lighting, people loads and weather it is conditioned or not etc.
"everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
I would go with the "apply a stairwell space type and an internal load to represent the material used for the stairs" approach.
If there is a way to input the stair mass in the definition of the internal load for each stairwell, you could calculate that using the geometry of the stairs from sketchup or the plans you are using, doing a volume takeoff and then multiplying by the density of the stair material.
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