Product Pick of the Week - Windie™, the latest tool for wind simulation flow over complex terrain

As a product of intense work and the result of a scientific cooperation with the Institute of Engineering of Oporto (ISEP), MEGAJOULE Inovação presented Windie™ on Wednesday, April 21 at the EWEC 2010 in Poland. Windie™ is a new tool for the simulation of three-dimensional flows over complex terrain. By introducing Windie™ to the global market renewable energy consultant MEGAJOULE opens up new possibilities for wind flow simulation software.

Carlos Silva Santos, manager of MEGAJOULE Inovação, says that: “We believe Windie™ is the most
advanced CFD code presently available. Our site assessment studies performed with this new CFD tool will be more complete than other current approaches, due to the inclusion of mesoscale data and the
simulation of thermodynamic effects which are crucial for certain wind farm locations. In addition to this, the added turbulence models increase our confidence in the site assessment results.”

As a leading wind energy consultancy, MEGAJOULE must be equipped with the correct tools to be able to accurately assess the wind characteristics in areas of complex flow, in order be able to advise how to maximize production and minimize down-times and maintenance costs. Windie™ CFD, in addition to the prediction of recirculation regions and separated flows, incorporates a number of distinguishing features: its ability to be coupled with mesoscale results, results in more representative solutions of local wind patterns; it incorporates the modeling of thermal stratification effects; it offers more turbulence modeling possibilities; it includes the most advanced forest canopy model.

For more information please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net
Since its creation, MEGAJOULE Inovação has established strong ties with university institutions to better bolster its R&D projects. The first output of this collaboration is Windie™, a new CFD solution developed specifically for wind engineering by a team with over 15 years experience in CFD development.

Prof. Fernando Aristides Castro, senior lecturer at ISEP, scientific consultant of MEGAJOULE Inovação and head developer of Windie™ believes that “Windie™ is a great example of the cooperation between universities and companies: by researching and developing advanced aspects of CFD modeling of wind flows, we have arrived at a tool that will add value to the CFD services of MEGAJOULE Inovação.”

Another important feature of Windie™ is its forest canopy model, based on the work of Prof. Lopes da Costa of ISEP and scientific consultant at MEGAJOULE Inovação. He states: “we have incorporated in our forest model the ability to vertically describe the different types of trees present near a site, and further techniques to better describe the shape of each horizontal forested patch”.

As Windie™ is an in-house code, MEGAJOULE Inovação can offer complete versatility in the type of
analyses and outputs that can be performed, to better satisfy the requirements of each project. The CFD code is constantly under development, following the strong commitment to innovation and research of its creators. MEGAJOULE Inovação is currently further developing meso-microscale coupling techniques, implementing an advanced turbine wake model, improving compatibility of inputs and outputs with other wind engineering tools.

MEGAJOULE Inovação is the R&D branch of MEGAJOULE responsible for developing the most advanced wind modeling solutions, besides researching into new products and technologies in the sustainable energy
industries.