Allow multiple Run Periods

Problem: right now you can only use one model runPeriod.

Solution: Add ability to have several runPeriods.

Context: It’s extremely useful during iterative changes or troubleshooting. You might want to have for example a run for three days: one in winter (january), one in summer (july) and one in shoulder season (april). That would allow short runtime while still seeing different load conditions.

Also, I could also see a case where you’d run for a week in each month (reduce runtime but without sacrificing the accuracy too much). The good thing about using several runPeriods in EnergyPlus (rather than launching a parametric analysis where you do 12 individual runs) is that the sizing only happens once, AND all the runs end up in the SAME SQL file, which makes aggregation of the results much easier. That would allow easier creation of measures for new workflows such as this one.

Migrated from UserVoice

No files or tests are named. Start by tracing how the model's runPeriod is represented and passed to EnergyPlus, then inspect how multiple runs could be collected in one SQL file. Done means several distinct run periods can be configured, simulated, and distinguished in the shared results output.