Branching
In the analysis of mechanical systems, it’s quite common to evaluate multiple receivers associated with the same system, where ductwork branches serve different spaces in a project. For these scenarios, V-A Design uses the concept of branching calculation paths to expedite calculations that share common elements.
Consider a scenario where you’ve completed a calculation to 1 space (Office 101) and where you’re interested in calculating noise to an adjacent space (Conference Room), and where the ductwork serving the Conference Room branches at a specific fitting.
Rather than creating a separate path from the noise source, we can use the branching feature to share common elements as a jumping off point.
Branching using Drag and Drop
Dragging an element onto the canvas, place the calculation element onto the “Branch” drop zone. Placing the element here will create a branch, which captures all upstream elements of the calculation, along with the first element continuing the new calculation path.
Drag and drop to create a “branch”.
Shared elements are displayed gray, and selecting an element will show common elements between paths.
Common elements between branches are displayed in a gray color.
A branch can also be created from the palette area. Hovering over calculation elements displays an Add and Branch icon, which corresponds to the 2 distinct drop zones. Clicking the branch icon will yield the same result we just explored with dragging an element to the Branch drop zone.
Branches can also be created using the “branch” icon from the palette hover menu.
Branched calculation paths are also considered with silencer selections. In this example, we now have 2 distinct calculation paths, serving 2 distinct spaces, with 2 different criteria and requirements for insertion loss. Positioning a silencer within the shared upstream section, the application will consider the union of all criteria of the branches. Where 1 calculation path may require low frequency noise control, and the other calculation may require high frequency noise control, the application will look at the maximum required insertion loss across both paths, resulting in a silencer selection that ensures all paths achieve their target noise criteria.
Silencer selections consider all calculation paths with insertion loss requirements.