Relax leaf area index (LAI) range for the IndoorLivingWall module

[LipingWang]

Pull request overview

Description of the purpose of this PR

In previous version, the maximum leaf area index (LAI) was set as 2.0 for the IndoorLivingWall module. If the calculated LAI was greater than 2.0, the maximum value of 2.0 was used for LAI in the simulation. This could limit the opportunity for users to explore large leaf areas in the built environment.
This modification is to remove the original constraint on LAI for the IndoorLivingWall module. The changes include the code modificaiton in IndoorGreen.cc and updates in the EnergyPlus references.
After the modificaiton, the simulation results of three testing cases with LAI=1.0, LAI=2.0 and LAI=3.0 were compared. The effectiveness of the modification was validated based on the differences of simulation results between LAI=2.0 and LAI=3.0.

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[rraustad]

Seems like there should be some maximum. Maybe 5 or 10?

Typical LAIs are 1.0 for grass and 3.0 for bushes and shrubs.

[LipingWang]

Thank you for your comments. Currently, EnergyPlus requires that each living wall be attached to a partition wall. Relaxing the leaf area index (LAI) limit in the model can conceptually represent a larger living wall area within the space. So, users can define a relatively small partition wall, while assigning a larger LAI to represent the total leaf area present in the space. In this approach, the LAI parameter therefore represents the total leaf surface area included in the simulation, rather than the strict physical leaf area index.

[mitchute]

Field limits should be enforced through the IDD. In this instance, you can add \maximum 10 on this field. That change will cause a slight adjustment to this block.

[LipingWang]

LAI or LAI_Cal is not an input but calculated value at this point based on leaf area.

[mitchute]

In that case, it would be good to edit the docs for the Total Leaf Area field to note that only LAI up to 10 are allowed.

[LipingWang]

Great thanks! Updated.

[mitchute]

Looks good.