Studies

A Study in Cruncher is the primary container that brings together Seed Cases, Snapshots, processing phases, analysis options, and output settings into a single repeatable workflow. Running a Study creates one or more Snapshot cases relative to a chosen Target Time, applies configured inputs, and optionally performs Analysis and generates reports.

Components of a Study

• Seed Cases — Solved base cases that serve as the foundation for Snapshots.
• Snapshots — Defined points or ranges in time, each applying time‑varying data to a Seed Case.
• Processing Phases — Outages, Weather, Forecasts, Voltage Conditioning, and OPF.
• Analysis — Optional Analysis AUX scripts or Contingency Analysis.
• Results — Outputs including Snapshot/Analysis cases, reports, plots, AUX exports, and archives.
• Alarms — JSON notifications signaling start, warnings, errors, and completion.

Study Presets

Presets provide ready‑made Snapshot sets for common planning scenarios:

• Future Hour Ahead — Three Snapshots at +01:00, +02:00, and +03:00 with duration 0:00.
• Next Day Study — Twenty‑four Snapshots (+01:00 through +24:00) with Duration = -01:00 (hour‑ending).
• Week Ahead Study — Ten Snapshots in two blocks (+06:00–+10:00 and +15:00–+19:00) with duration 0:00.

Study Settings

• Name — Human‑readable identifier.
• Status — Informational flag such as TESTING, PENDING, VERIFIED, ERROR, ACTIVE, or PAUSED.
• Custom AUX — Path to AUX files or folders for general configuration applied to every Snapshot.
• Solution Options AUX — Export of Simulator solution options for consistent solves.
• Snapshot Solution Method — Choice of power flow solution algorithm (e.g., Newton‑Raphson).
• Results Directory — Folder where all outputs for this Study are saved.

Validation

• Quick Validation — Checks Study configuration and file paths without running Simulator.
• Full Validation — Performs Simulator checks and saves an Excel report of issues found.

Toolbar Actions

• Edit Study — Open the Study Configuration dialog for editing.
• Delete Study — Remove the Study from Cruncher.
• Export Study — Save the Study configuration as JSON.
• Create Duplicate Study — Clone the Study with a unique identifier.
• Run Validation — Trigger Quick or Full Validation.
• Run On Demand — Launch the Study immediately with a user‑specified Target Time.