Setting up a Wind Simulation

Create a New Project

After signing in to your ArchiWind account, you’ll see your project list. Before creating a new simulation, you must create or select a project to manage related simulations. For example, you might create a project for a new case study or to collect simulations related to a product development program.

Click the button to create a new project or select an existing one to continue.

Create a New Simulation

Click the button to start creating a new simulation.

If your project has existing simulations, you’ll see them here.

Configure Your Simulation

Next, fill out the General Simulation Settings:

• Name: Give your simulation a name. This will be its main identifier in the results pages and reports, so make it compact but descriptive.
• Number of Wind Directions: The default is set to 16, which is more than enough according to industry standards. One simulation runs for each wind direction. If you need a different number, please contact us at [email protected].
• Area: The default area is set to a 450m radius, which aligns with industry standards. This ensures that the terrain and surroundings fill the surface adequately, including enough of the context around the building for accurate computation. You can choose to simulate a smaller radius if necessary.
• Center Point Coordinate: This is used to pull wind statistics and meteorological data for your site. This location pulls local wind statistics from the ERA5 worldwide database. If you don’t have these coordinates, use Google Maps to find and select a location close to the center of your site. Right click and you’ll access the point coordinate (WSG84 EPSG:4326).

Upload Your Model

Upload the geometries in the appropriate category. We will mesh your building of interest, surrounding context, and terrain differently. To optimize your use of ArchiWind, read Prepare Your Input Geometries. ArchiWind accepts geometries in STL or OBJ format.

In the additional settings, import trees to be simulated as porous media, which slow down the wind. This feature is useful for testing and improving your mitigation strategies. For more details, read Simulating Trees.

ArchiWind does not change the coordinate system of your models. If your buildings are correctly placed in your export, they should appear correctly in the viewer. If not, please contact us at [email protected].