QUESTION:

I keep getting adjacency errors in my model when I do a thermal analysis -- what do these errors mean and why do they keep showing up ?

ANSWER:

There could be any number of reasons why you are getting adjacency errors -- but basically what ever the errors are it is important to pay attention to them as they are basically ECOTECT telling you that it doesn't like how you have modelled your building, zones and/or materials. It is the software warning you that something is not right and it needs to be dealt with before considering any of the analysis output that ECOTECT generates.

1. First step is to find out exactly what the error means. To do this just select one of the errors in the warning dialog that is displayed and then click the Help button at the bottom of the dialog. This will display the exact help file section that refers to that error, which will hopefully let you understand why the error is caused.
2. Second step (still with the error message selected in the dialog box) you should notice that some objects in your model will be selected. This is ECOTECT telling you exactly which objects the problems are being caused with. You will need to look in detail at not only the geometry of the objects, but as well their material assignments.
3. Finally if you still don't understand what is going wrong, then you need to read (carefully) the following sections in the help file. This is very important as ECOTECT does require a certain amount of model information in a particular way such that it can understand your building:
   • Important Concepts » Layers and Zones
   • Analysis » Thermal Performance » Thermal Modelling
   • Modelling » Material Assignments » General (Material Assignments)