Urban Field Stream

The function of Urban-VWT is to simulate the air flow around individual or groups of buildings, incorporating measured wind statistics to obtain yearly averaged results for the modeled wind direction. Urban-VWT is intended for architects, building engineers, urban planners, local authorities and environment engineers. Urban-VWT enables users to visualize, understand, evaluate and refine the air-flow patterns in steady-state scenarios, in micro- as well as macro-scale. Transient (time-dependent) conditions are straightforward to implement, if required.

Using UrbanVWT architects, building engineers, urban planners and local authorities can obtain:

• Forces on roofs and walls.
• Pedestrian comfort information.
• Rates of heat loss or gain between buildings, atmosphere and sky.

Concentration of pollutants.

Case studies:

Study at University of Florida

Urban Wind Flows – Large - scale Parallel - processing model

Wind Energy

The role of HeatEx is to simulate the performance of idealized heat exchangers of parallel-flow, counter-flow, cross-flow and other presumed-flow configurations, both for:

1. the circumstances for which analytical solutions exist, i.e. those of uniform fluid properties and uniform overall heat-transfer coefficient, and
2. those for which there exist no such solutions, because the said quantities are not uniform, as for example in the shell-and-tube heat exchanger illustrated above.

ShellFlow brochure

The F1-VWT: Formula One Class scenario has been designed to aid students competing in the Formula One Class of the F1 in Schools challenge. During the analysis phase of the project, Virtual Wind Tunnel Technology can be used to provide far greater flexibility for investigating model designs and the impact which design changes may have on the aerodynamic performance of the model car.

Any number of designs can be tested in the F1-VWT environment without the need to manufacture a single model. Thus, not only does the F1-VWT package offer more flexible use, it also provides a much cheaper and less time consuming means of performing aerodynamic analysis whilst providing far more detailed results.

The purpose of the Formula One Class subdivision of the F1-VWT is to allow students competing within this class to test their models under the constraints of the technical regulations for the Formula One Class. In-built within the class scenario are appropriate legality checks to be considered when designing a Formula One Class model.

F1-VWT brochure

Heat Isle was originally designed for the simulation of the 'Heat-Island' phenomenon, i.e. the formation of elevated-temperature regions in the vicinity of cities and large towns.

Features of the phenomenon which are disclosed there are:

• That it results primarily from the reduced heat loss by radiation and convection from urban areas in comparison to surrounding vegetation- or water-covered areas, as in the typical plot of near-ground temperatures.
• That it is most pronounced when the velocity of the atmospheric wind is low, so that free (i.e. buoyancy-induced) convection is more important than forced convection.
• That it is to be properly understood only if:
  1. Long-wave radiation (e.g. from and between buildings) is considered as well as short-wave radiation (i.e. from the sun);
  2. Radiation absorption, reflection and transmission properties of the atmosphere are taken into account:
  3. Both day and night are included in the simulation period;
  4. The differing heat capacities of buildings, soil and vegetation are also considered.

Heat Island brochure

TubeFlow scenario and PHOENICS-Direct package enable their users, in a very simple and intelligible way

1. to simulate both laminar and turbulent steady flow and heat transfer flow inside a tube,
2. to vary the fluid properties, input parameters and the various modes of computation,
3. to undertake parametric studies by means of the multi-run facility, and
4. to examine the results by examination of both graphical displays and printed documents.

The Slurry scenario simulates the steady, two-phase flow of a sediment-laden fluid through a straight pipe of circular cross-section.

The purpose of the Slurry simulation scenario (SimScene) is to enable non-CFD experts to predict the pipe pressure gradient, the solids volume fraction distribution and the velocity distribution within the pipe for such a flow set-up.

Case study:

Water Slurry Flows in a Horizontal Pipe