QUESTION:

I want to use ECOTECT for CFD analysis and notice that you have some examples of this on your gallery pages (mentions WinAir4). What is WinAir4, where can I get it, and how do I use it for CFD in ECOTECT ?

ANSWER:

WinAir4 is actually some research code that is currently being developed by researchers here at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. It is used extensively for research and consulting here as well as in the MSc course. However it is still a bit raw so not yet publicly available, unfortunately...

However, the methods that ECOTECT uses to generate CFD grids and export the data have been written in such a way as to be flexible enough to interface with different types of CFD code. We are currently looking at alternate codes that are either already available for purchase (Phoenix, Fluent etc.) or Open Source.

In the meantime we are using WinAir4 as a basis for testing the export/interface for CFD.

As another suggestion for an immediate (and free) option you may like to look at ESP-r from Uni. of Strathclyde... as ECOTECT already exports to ESP-r (mainly tested for thermal calcs at the moment), but ESP-r does have a CFD module...