Caching

Archetypal features a caching api aimed at accelerating reproducible workflows using EnergyPlus simulations by reducing unnecessary calls to the EnergyPlus executable or transitioning programs. Concretely, caching an IDF model means that, for instance, if an older version model (less than 9.2) is ran, archetypal will transition a copy of that file to version 9.2 (making a copy beforehand) and run the simulation with the matching EnergyPlus executable. The next time the IDF() constructor is called, the cached (transitioned) file will be readily available and used; This helps to save time especially with reproducible workflows since transitioning files can take a while to complete.

As for simulation results, after archetypal.idfclass.idf.IDF.simulate() is called, the EnergyPlus outputs (.csv, sqlite, mtd, .mdd, etc.) are cached in a folder structure than is identified according to the simulation parameters; those parameters include the content of the IDF file itself (if the file has changed, a new simulation is required), whether an annual or design day simulation is executed, etc. This means that if simulate is called a second time (let us say after restarting a Jupyter Notebook kernel), the simulate will bypass the EnergyPlus executable and retrieve the cached simulation results instead. This has two advantages, the first one being a quicker workflow and the second one making sure that whatever IDF.simulation_files returns fits the parameters used with the executable. Let us use this in a real world example.

Example

In a Jupyter Notebook, one would typically do the following:

idf = IDF.from_example_files(
    "AdultEducationCenter.idf",
    epw="USA_IL_Chicago-OHare.Intl.AP.725300_TMY3.epw",
    design_day=True,
    annual=False,
    expandobjects=True,
    prep_outputs=True,
)

If the file would be an older version, archetypal is going to transition the file to EnergyPlus 9.2 (or any other version specified with the as_version parameter) and execute EnergyPlus for the design_day only.

The command bellow yields a list of output files. These will be located inside a cache folder specified by the settings.cache_folder variable (this folder path can be changed using the config method).

>>> idf.simulate().simulation_files
[Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\AdultEducationCenter.idf'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.audit'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.bnd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.dxf'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.eio'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.end'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.err'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.eso'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.expidf'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.mdd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.mtd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.mtr'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.rdd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.shd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431bout.sql'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431btbl.csv'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431btbl.htm'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\runargs.json'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\sqlite.err'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b\\USA_IL_Chicago-OHare.Intl.AP.725300_TMY3.epw')]]

Now, if the command above is modified with annual=True and set design_day=False, then idf.simulate().simulation_files should return the annual simulation results (which do not exist yet).

>>> idf.simulate(annual=True, design_day=False).simulation_files

Now, since the original IDF file (the version 8.9 one) has not changed, archetypal is going to look for the transitioned file that resides in the cache folder and use that one instead of retransitioning the original file a second time. On the other hand, since the parameters of simulate() have changed (annual instead of design_day), it is going to execute EnergyPlus using the annual method and return the annual results (see that the second-level folder id has changed from b07dbcb49b54298c5f64fe5ee730431b to 1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081; these ids may be different on your computer):

[Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.audit'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.bnd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.dxf'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.eio'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.end'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.err'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.eso'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.expidf'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.mdd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.mtd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.mtr'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.rdd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.shd'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081out.sql'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081tbl.csv'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081tbl.htm'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\AdultEducationCenter.idf'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\runargs.json'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\sqlite.err'),
Path('cache\\b0b749f1c11f28b3d24d1d8978d1140e\\1cc202748b6c3c2431d203ce90e4d081\\USA_IL_Chicago-OHare.Intl.AP.725300_TMY3.epw')]

If we were to rerun the first code block (annual simulation) then it would return the cached results instantly from the cache.

Clearing the cache

To clear the cache, invoke clear_cache: