The Virtualwind 2.0 software enables you to output visualizations as still images (PNG) or videos (AVI). This allows you to easily share these visualizations with your clients, other members of your project team or an IDP (Integrated Design Process) group. You can display the images directly on your desktop or laptop, incorporate them into a PowerPoint presentation, or print the PNGs as part of a design portfolio.
In this section we have provided you with examples of the types of outputs that are available from the Virtualwind software. The videos presented here are Flash Video conversions of AVIs from the software, so the size will not be as large as the originals and the quality will not be as good. Because the AVI videos are too large to display on this web site, we have also set up an FTP site from which you can download the AVIs. If you are interested in accessing the FTP site,
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Below you will find short descriptions of the images, along with discussions of how each of these visualization options can be used in your projects. For a more detailed technical discussion of the full variety of options for monitoring and visualizing in Virtualwind, do the following:
1. Install the Virtualwind software
2. Launch the "Virtualwind Help" documentation
3. Expand "User's Guide"
4. Within User's Guide:
a. expand "Monitors"
b. expand "Monitor Data Visualization" -> "Actors"
The following are descriptions and examples of the types of enhanced flow visualizations that are available in Virtualwind:
New York City
The visualizations of New York City provide interesting examples of several powerful aspects of Virtualwind:
• Ease of Model Development - The original model was imported from the GoogleTM 3D Warehouse. This particular model still included the Twin Towers. So, we imported a model of the Freedom Tower from the 3D Warehouse and replaced the Twin Towers. Clients of Virtualwind are increasingly being required by city planners to analyze the wind effects of their new structures (buildings, overhead walkways, transit stops, etc.) on existing neighboring buildings, walkways, transit stops, parks, patios, etc. Therefore, this ability to access existing building models and quickly add your new structure models provides you with a very powerful, easy-to-use tool for quickly undertaking such micro-climate analyses.
Still Image - Ease of Model Development
• Color-Coded Wind Speeds - The PNGs and AVIs that refer to "solid_contour" show the visualization of colored contours of wind speed for a selected planar slice through the model (referred to as an "orthoslice"). In these images, the color blue represents low wind speeds, green indicates low to moderate wind speeds, yellow represents moderate to high wind speeds, and red represents high wind speeds. You can optionally select to display a color legend at the bottom of the image, with the speeds indicated below the legend. You can use solid contours to discover "hot spots" in your design. Areas of unacceptable wind speeds may become apparent at different time points in your simulation run, so it is beneficial to be able to view a video visualization.
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Video - Colored Orthoslice Solid Contours
Petronas Towers
The visualizations of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia provide examples of additional visualization options in Virtualwind, including:
• Arrows Showing Wind Direction - Another option for visualization is the use of "vectors". The direction of each arrow shows the wind direction at that point, and the color of the arrow represents the wind speed. The AVI in this case provides a powerful representation of the unsteady, wind-flow around the base of this tower complex.
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Video - Vectors Showing Wind Drection and Speed
• Semi-Transparent Visualization Surfaces - All of the PNGs of the Petronas Towers that show solid contour visualizations demonstrate the ability within Virtualwind to set the level of transparency. Thus, if it is important to be able to see parts of the model that would be hidden by a non-transparent solid contour, you can change the transparency. For some applications, it may be desirable to set the building surfaces to semi-transparent in order to be able to better see the wind visualizations that would otherwise be hidden by the building structure.
Still Image - Semi-Transparent Contours
• Sustainable Development and LEED - You can choose the height of the solid contour, and as we will show in other images on this FTP site, you can also choose whether the contour is parallel to the ground plane (as in these images) or perpendicular to the ground, and either facing the wind or parallel to the wind.These particular images of New York are displaying Pedestrian Level Wind (PLW). For considerations of Sustainable Development and LEED, it is desirable to encourage alternate modes of transportation. Therefore, it is important that you consider microclimate effects on pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths, bicycle parking areas, and transit stops. Also, if you are considering the placement of patios, decks, swimming pools, etc., you will need to determine whether the wind speeds are going to be acceptable. Since you can visualize wind speeds at any height above the ground, solid contour visualizations can also be used to analyze the potential wind effects on green roofs (will the wind be blowing too hard on vegetation and require the addition of some sort of shields to block the wind) and living roofs (wind effects on people as well as vegetation).
Still Image - Adjustable Height of Visualization Plane
Sydney Opera House
The visualizations of the Sydney Opera House demonstrate additional visualization options in Virtualwind:
• Wind Contour at a Fixed Elevation - The Virtualwind program allows you to import terrain models from Google Earth, or to create your own terrain models. The wind effects over uneven terrain (hills and valleys) are accurately modeled in the simulation. Solid contours or vectors in this case are not in a flat plane, but rather in a surface that is a fixed distance above the terrain (known as an "isosurface"). The AVI titled "UpwindVectors" demonstrates this type of visualization very powerfully - notice the wind vectors "spilling over" the stepped surface on the left hand side, and the wind vectors over the uneven terrain toward the rear of the model. Applications for this type of representation include placement of windmills in a wind farm. Isosurface solid contours or vectors can be used to determine locations where the wind at the height of the windmills will be optimal. Additional tools for analyzing wind information at specific points are described later.
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Video - Wind Contour at Fixed Elevation
• Wind Flow and Vortex Shedding Around Complex Curvilinear Surfaces - The AVI titled "CrosswindVectors" shows an excellent example of wind flowing over a series of complex curvilinear surfaces. The vortex shedding off the tops of some of the curved rooftops is very effectively demonstrated.
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Video - Wind Flow Around Complex Curvilinear Surfaces
Loyola Campus
The solid contour visualization of the Loyola Campus demonstrates additional applications of the Virtualwind visualizations:
• Site Planning - The Virtualwind software allows you to analyze the effects of the placement, orientation and general shape of new structures in your project. The visualization of the Loyola Campus shows selected buildings as simplified block structures. Virtualwind clients are using these types of models to "try out" various simple block-structure shapes of new buildings to determine the effect of placement of new structures, whether the orientation will mitigate "hot-spots", and whether a different shape will alleviate undesirable wind effects (for example, putting rounded corners on the building or placing a broad base around the bottom of a tower.
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Video - Site Planning
Single-Family Home
The visualizations of the single-family home demonstrate the following aspects of the Virtualwind outputs:
• Vertically Oriented Slice Plane - The AVI in this case demonstrates the ability to have a vertically oriented solid contour that is perpendicular to the ground plane and parallel to the direction of the wind. This enables effective visualization of the wind effects on the decks around the house and on the sloping terrain around the house.
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Video - Vertically Oriented Slice Plane
Hamburg Castle
The visualizations of Hamburg Castle demonstrate additional visualization features available in Virtualwind:
• Wind Movement in Semi-Enclosed Areas - The front of the castle has a large carriage-way into the courtyard. The vector visualization demonstrates that some of the wind shedding around the front of the building flows through the carriage-way and into the courtyard.
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Video - Wind Movement in Semi-Enclosed Areas
Natural Ventilation and Interior Flow
Studies in natural ventilation can be achieved by simulating the air flow through both the inside and outside of a building or house. Although this is possible, it does require a high resolution setting in order to sufficiently resolve open doors and windows, and interior walls; even for a first order approximation.
• Natural Ventilation in 2-Storey Building - Below is a video of a simplified 2-storey building, with open doors and windows, showing solid contours of wind speed on the lower level and vectors on the second level. Also shown is a resolution block actor indicating the level of resolution used in the simulation. Note that this would be considered the minimum level of resolution needed to resolve the open door at the bottom right. Of course, the more computing power one has available to them, the finer the resolution can be set.
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Video - Interior Flows and Natural Ventilation
Below is a still image visualization of the same 2-storey building, with open doors and windows, showing solid contours of wind speed on the second level. Also shown is a resolution block actor indicating the level of resolution used in the simulation. Note that this would be considered the minimum level of resolution needed to resolve the open door at the bottom right. Of course, the more computing power one has available to them, the finer the resolution can be set.
Still Image - Natural Ventilation
Woolworth Building
The video of the Woolworth Building demonstrates three additional visualization features of Virtualwind:
• Two Visualization Outputs- The visualizations in Virtualwind can combine multiple representations of the same type or several different types. This particular AVI is showing two types of representations: isosurface solid contour and several point wind monitors. Later, we will show visualizations with four different types of visualizations, some of which are placed at multiple locations in the model.
• Solid Contours of One Quantity Generated from Another Quantity - This type of representation is actually a generalization of the visualization described in the Sydney Opera House video of "wind contours at a fixed elevation". In this Woolworth Building AVI, the solid contour is showing wind speed, but it is being generated on the isosurface of mean wind speed. So, you are basically seeing solid contours of a single wind velocity. For a more detailed explanation of this feature, please see the Virtualwind User's Guide discussion of "Isosurface Solid Contours".
• Point Probes - Point Wind Monitors (or Point Probes) appear as arrows at specific locations that you have selected. The direction of the arrow shows the wind direction and the color of the arrow shows the wind speed. The data for each point probe is logged for each step in the simulation, and can be output to an ASCII file for import into Excel or other data programs. This enables you to analyze the wind information at specific points (for example, average or mean wind speed, maximum, standard deviation, etc.). For Sustainable Development, this feature is useful for determining optimal placement of natural ventilation intakes, windows that open, wind turbines on or around buildings, and windmills in wind farms.
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Video - One Quantity Generated from Another and Point Probes
U.S. Capitol
The video of the US Capitol demonstrates the following type of visualization:
• Two Visualization Outputs - In this case, the visualization is showing a solid contour surface parallel to the ground, and a vector surface perpendicular to the ground and parallel to the direction of the wind, positioned at the center of the rotunda.
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Video - Two Visualization Outputs
Monster Park
The visualizations of Monster Park (formerly Candlestick Park) in San Francisco are particularly effective in demonstrating the following capability of Virtualwind:
• Multiple Visualization Outputs - In these AVIs you will see as many as four different types of visualization outputs at once. The AVI and FLV titled "crosswind_verticalVectorsAndSmokebomb" show the following four types of visualizations: solid contour plane at pedestrian level, vector plane perpendicular to the ground and parallel to the wind direction, several point wind monitors.
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Sample Outputs
