When openings (such as doors or windows) do not appear in the model after following the workflow involving Open BIM Analytical Model programs and CYPETHERM programs (such as CYPETHERM EPlus), you have several options:
1. Check that the original model is correct. If CYPE Architecture is the modeller used, this can be done by observing two main aspects:
- No overlapping elements, e.g. two walls in the same place. The program does not warn of this situation and yet this can cause problems at later stages of the flow.
- The following modelling recommendations must have been followed, especially the one that refers to the need for the faces of the spaces to coincide exactly with the faces of the elements that define them (both slabs and walls). Otherwise, the spaces should be redrawn; to ensure their geometry, the "By points" option can be used and the trihedrons of the corners of the space (wall-floor slab-wall junctions) can be taken with the "Intersection" snap.
2. Once in Open BIM Analytical Model, there are two possibilities to try to generate openings that this program has not solved automatically when generating the analytical model geometry:
- Use the specific tool to "Generate an opening in an analytical surface based on an opening of the physical model" as indicated in this link. In the case of a window, the generated surface must be further edited and defined as "Glazed".
- If the above does not work, Open BIM Analytical Model can also be used as a type of geometric modeller, where openings can be inserted directly into the space using the procedure detailed in the following link.
3. When it comes to programs such as CYPETHERM EPlus, it is also possible to manually enter an opening in the building model managed by these programs, even if it has not been collected from the information entered in previous steps. This can be done in the "Building" tab, in the "Zones" tree diagram, by adding openings in the opening list table corresponding to each enclosure or partition, and will require the numerical entry of the coordinates of their "Vertices".
If all of the above doesn't work or is not operational in the project you are working on, you can consider the use of modelling programs with a more direct connection to energy simulation programs, such as IFC Builder (free technology), which do not require the intermediate step through Open BIM Analytical Model, which is an alternative way of working.
