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Visual Spark

The SPARK program is an equation-based, object-oriented simulation environment for modeling complex systems. VisualSPARK provides a graphical user interface for SPARK. SPARK allows users to describe problems using objects and classes, then solves the problems by automatically determining efficient solution strategies. It was developed by LBNL and Ayres Sowell Associates with support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

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91 views3 pages

Visual Spark

The SPARK program is an equation-based, object-oriented simulation environment for modeling complex systems. VisualSPARK provides a graphical user interface for SPARK. SPARK allows users to describe problems using objects and classes, then solves the problems by automatically determining efficient solution strategies. It was developed by LBNL and Ayres Sowell Associates with support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Uploaded by

rawneeh
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Simulation Problem Analysis and Research

VisualSPARK Kernel (SPARK) is an equation-


based, object-oriented simulation
environment for constructing and
running models of complex systems.
VisualSPARK is the SPARK
program with a graphical user
interface to simplify use of the
program.
The "SPARK Overview" provides a
brief description of the program.
Details on using SPARK are given in
the SPARK Reference Manual and
VisualSPARK Users Guide, which
can be downloaded without
registering for the program. SPARK
was developed by LBNL and Ayres
Sowell Associates with support from
the Assistant Secretary for Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
Office Of Building Technology
Programs of the U.S. Department of
Energy; the DOE program manager
is Dru Crawley.

The SPARK energy simulation program is neither sponsored by nor affiliated with SPARC International, Inc., and is not based on SPARC
architecture. In addition, the SPARK energy simulation program is not associated with the SPARK programming
language and toolset from Praxis Critical Systems Limited.

Software
Download VisualSPARK 2.01 (End-User License Required)

Documentation
New Features, bug fixes and changes
VisualSPARK Users Guide
SPARK Reference Manual
SPARK Atomic Class API pdf html
SPARK Problem Driver API pdf html
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How to port atomic classes from SPARK 1.x to SPARK 2.x
All Technical Reports

SPARK Overview
Introduction
Describing Problems for SPARK Solution
User Interfaces
Tools for Writing SPARK Classes
Introduction
Simulation of a physical system requires development of a mathematical model, usually
composed of differential and/or algebraic equations. These equations then must be solved
at each point in time over some interval of interest. The Simulation Problem Analysis and
Research Kernel (SPARK) is an object-oriented software system to perform such
simulations. By "object-oriented" we mean that components and subsystems are modeled
as objects that can be interconnected to specify the model of the entire system. Often the
same component and subsystem models can be used in many different system models,
saving the work of redevelopment.

SPARK may be thought of as a general differential/algebraic equation solver. This means


that it can be used to solve any kind of mathematical problem described in terms of a set
of differential and algebraic equations. The term continuous systems is often used to
describe this class of problems. Typical examples include building heating and cooling
systems, heat transfer analysis, and biological processes. Models are expressed as
systems of interconnected objects, either created by the user or selected from a library.
An HVAC tool kit library comes with SPARK.

Since SPARK objects are equation-based rather than algorithmic, they are input/output
free. That is, there is no assumed directionality, so that a single model can be used to
solve problems with various specified inputs. SPARK is unique in its ability to apply
graph theory to automatically determine efficient solution strategies, often resulting in
significant speed advantages as well as modeling convenience.

Describing Problems for SPARK Solution


Describing a problem for SPARK solution begins by breaking it down in an object-
oriented way. This means thinking about the problem in terms of its components, with
each component to be represented by a SPARK object. Then, a model is developed for
each component not already present in a SPARK library. Since there may be several
components of the same kind, SPARK object models, i.e., equations or groups of
equations, are defined in a generic manner, called classes. Classes serve as templates for
creating any number of like objects that may be needed in a problem. The problem model
is then completed by linking objects together, thus indicating how they interact, and
specifying data values that specialize the model to represent the actual problem to be
solved.

Naturally, model descriptions must be expressed in some formal way. SPARK class
models are described in a textual language that is similar to other simulation
programming languages except that it is non-procedural. That is, it is not necessary to
order the equations, nor to express them as assignment statements. This property derives
from the input/output free manner in which the object classes are defined, and from the
use of mathematical graphs to find an appropriate solution sequence.

In SPARK, the smallest programming element is a class consisting of an individual


equation, called an atomic class. Then, macro classes bring together several atomic
classes (and possibly other macro classes) into a higher level unit. Problem models are
similarly described, using the atomic and macro classes, and placed in a problem
specification file. When the problem is processed by SPARK, the problem specification
file is converted to a program, which gets compiled, linked and executed to solve the
problem for given boundary conditions.

User Interfaces
The user interface provided by VisualSPARK allows for the creation of text-based
classes and problems using the SPARK language directly, as well as for problem
execution. Post processing for visualization of results is supported.

Tools for Writing SPARK Classes


While specifying problems in the SPARK language using existing classes is relatively
easy, writing SPARK class models can be tedious. One necessary task is deriving the
inverses for the class equation, i.e., closed-form solutions for several or all variables that
occur in the equation. The labor of this task is multiplied in certain kinds of problems,
such as those described in terms of partial differential equations. Such equations have to
first be expressed as sets of ordinary differential equations, replicated many times with
slight variations.

To simplify these tasks, VisualSPARK comes with a symbolic manipulation tool called
SPARKSYM. With this tool the user need specify only the atomic class equation, from
which all necessary inverses and supporting C++ functions are generated automatically
through symbolic manipulation.

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