Optimisation

The Optimise View of Hero allows you to setup powerful and diverse batch simulations of your Hero project.

You can watch the Hero v3.1 Webinar section on Optimisation at the 45:48 timestamp below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GDotcnaY2c&t=2748s

It allows you to setup multiple different variations of your project across a wide variety of "Instructions" such as modifying the Wall Insulation across 4 variables and/or running 8x Project Orientation simulations and/or modifying Eave Projection by 50mm across 6 simulations, and run these in large, repeatable parallel simulations.

The Optimise View also comes with run settings such as whether to run in "Full Factorial" setup that will run every possible combination of each instruction value entered, such that the full solution space of a design question be simulated.

The Optimise View is a great tool to assist in analysing the impacts of a wide variety of measures on your projects, and should become a standard part of your building environment modelling practice.

The Optimise View is accessible from the Top Toolbar of Hero.

Optimisation Setup

When the Optimise View is accessed, the setup window will appear from where you can click the Add Run button to add your first Optimisation Instruction to the view.

Within that Instruction row, you can then select a Type of variable you'd like to change (such as Project or Zone or Wall or Eave etc.) and then the related Change Action (such as Orientation or Projection etc) available for that type. You can then either add and then configure a Value or load some Preset Values into the instruction row.

Once you have your optimisation study setup, you can click the Begin Optimisation button and wait for the simulations to complete, at which point a results file will be produced for you.

The highlights below explain the use of the Optimise feature in Hero using a sample Optimisation setup that has queued up 4x climate zone values followed by 4x site exposure values for a total of 8 parametric simulations.

1. Add Run - Create a new empty "Instruction" row to run a variation of the current project upon. Note you can add and queue multiple Instructions by clicking the Add Run button multiple times.
2. Clear All - Remove all current Instruction rows from the Optimise setup view.
3. Run Type - This setting allows you to configure your optimisation to run in sequential Parametric sequence or in Full Factorial combinations, see below for further details.
4. Multiple (2) Instruction rows have been created in the example image above
5. Type - The Type of Project variable that you would like to change in the optimisation. These include Project, Level, Zone, Wall etc. categories.
6. Change - The Change type or Action that you would like to apply on the "Type", such as an Orientation Change of a Project, or an Insulation Change of a Wall, or a Project Change of an Eave. Each different model type has different actions that can be changed in an Optimisation instruction.
7. Add Value - Create a new Optimisation value that will be simulated, based on the Type & Change entered. e.g. for Climate Zone you can click Add Value to add a further Climate Zone number to run upon. Some Values will have preset lists that are selectable while some will allow text to be entered.
8. Clear All (values) - Will remove all created values of a Instruction row, e.g. clicking Clear All at position 9 would remove all Climate Zones entered (1, 3, 5 & 7)
9. Value - A Optimisation "Value" that represents one design variant of a Project. In some cases will be entered as text by user or selecting an item in the dropdown. Values can be removed by clicking the delete button next to the value. Subsequent values can be created by clicking the Add Value button.
10. Total # Simulations - Total number of simulations that will be evaluated in the Optimisation, click the calculate button to the right of the label to update this value.
11. # CPUs - The number of parallel simulations that will be performed to simulate the Optimisation study. Note that selecting higher number of parallel simulations may cause your computer to become less responsive but will allow significantly faster evaluation time.
12. Begin Optimisation / Stop Optimisation - Begin or stop the current optimisation setup which will queue up all the required Chenath simulations for parallel simulation. Upon successful completion a results file will be created in the Hero results folder
13. Results Folder - Open the Results Folder containing optimisation results files. The results of an optimisation are currently output to a CSV file located on the user's Hero Results folder which will typically be: C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Hero Software\Simulation\Results

Parametric & Full-Factorial modes

The Optimise feature can be setup to run your scenarios in two flexible modes - Parametric or Full-Factorial.

A Parametric optimisation will sequentially simulate each entered scenario and is great for sensitivity analysis and evaluating a small number of variations compared to a base-rating, whereas a full-factorial will evaluate every combination of value and be great for exploring the solution set.

The image shown above is of a Parametric type scenario that evaluates twelve different window specifications for the project, as well as 5 different external wall and roof colours, a total of 22 simulations queued up.

The image above demonstrates the power of a Full-Factorial run where we are now configured to run a simulation in every combination of value. E.g.  setting up a batch run for a volume-build design configured in 8x orientations, 9x climate zones, in vertically & horizontally mirrored design styles - all up 8 x 9 x 3 = 216 simulations of combinations. With the Optimise feature in Hero we can set that up and can run all the simulations in under 20 minutes.

Alternatively, optimise your window shade projection and offset across 20x variables; or Evaluate 5x wall insulations, 4 underslab insulations, 6 ceiling insulations and 8 glazing specifications in every combination etc, it's a great way to optimise your projects and target the most effective solutions.

For more information on the Optimisation feature please see the User Manual's Optimisation page