our SERVICE
Wind engineering & the Built Environment
As industry leaders in wind engineering and analysis, we provide our clients with high quality and proven results, delivered quickly and reliably. We solve issues as they arise without compromising integrity or architectural vision. Our accurate and cost-effective services make every project a success, from initial compliance to optimised environmental performance.
When studying a whole cityscape, our clients want to understand the impact brought about by proposed major developments or single buildings introduced into an existing environment. Wirth’s CFD simulations provide uniquely detailed information on scales ranging from an area of several kilometres in diameter, right down to targeting detailed aspects of a building measuring a few millimetres in length.
Benefits of using Wirth
Better resolution
“High-resolution CFD is a faster, more flexible and potentially more accurate approach to evaluating an urban wind environment than physical wind-tunnel testing.”
Robert Bird, Robert Bird Group, CTBUH Technical Juror
BENEFITS OF USING WIRTH
De-risk, reduce cost & timescales
If you are interested in creating an incredible experience around your building, and want to ensure pedestrians will be comfortable all year round, give us a call.
If you want to de-risk the wind microclimate planning process, get in touch.
If you are looking to reduce building costs and carbon foot print through reduced building or artwork wind loading, or minimise operational costs through reduced HVAC energy usage while maximising customer comfort, Wirth can deliver better solutions faster.
We are two time finalists of the prestigious, international CTBUH innovation awards, for pedestrian comfort and wind loading capabilities.
Service Areas
Wind Microclimate Assessments
We identify where excessive pedestrian level wind might occur using high-resolution computational fluid dynamics to inform design. Our extensive experience in the aerodynamics of the largest and most complex buildings combined with the detail of our CFD can provide detailed aerodynamic guidance.
Support provided at early stages of the project helps to avoid costly mitigation, with comprehensive assessments to supporting wind engineering through planning applications.
Service Areas
Structual Wind Loading
Our high-resolution CFD models the aerodynamic features of the building to help optimise and inform structural design early in the early stages of a projects.
We can model load wind pressures on façade elements, base loads under a variety of conditions and extract results to inform structural output such as buffeting forces, inhabitability check and vortex-induced vibrations.
Service Areas
Wind Loading of Non-Structural Items
We assess the effect of wind on secondary non-structural elements, such as facade, paving, trees, plants, furniture and any other types of landscaping on terraces or in the surrounding ground level areas.
Our advanced CFD processes help to make buildings more usable, more durable and safer beyond their structure. The fine detail offered provides a more detailed assessment of values previously difficult to determine via testing.
Service Areas
Wind Infiltration & Wind-Driven Rain
Wind infiltration can result in significant wasted energy as well as comfort issues. Understanding the extent and level of infiltration can help internal layout design and improve MEP considerations.
The Wirth AirDoor can also help combat infiltrating flows, reducing infiltration by 95% and can reduce total building gas consumption by over 25%.
We improve the safety of pedestrian spaces by assessing the risk of wind-driven rain potentially causing slippery surfaces on site.
Understanding the likely path of rain and key risk areas can improve design considerations. Reducing the likelihood of rain ingress can generate a more pleasant internal space and increase footfall of commercial developments.
Service Areas
Outdoor Thermal Comfort & Near-field Pollutant Dispersal
We carry out outdoor thermal comfort assessments to the standards specified by the City of London. This, combined with our Wind Microclimate Assessment, provides an additional layer of information to outdoor amenity spaces.
Optimisation of building massing to improve outdoor pedestrian conditions can ease planning applications and improve the quality of the building design and usability.
Improved CFD resolution at source can be important in determining onward spread of pollutants, whilst high resolution also allows more accurate measurement of dispersion.
We can improve the usability and safety of indoor and outdoor spaces by assessing the risk of pollutant dispersal at building scale.
Service Areas
Crane Wind: Pre-Construction & Weekly Forecast
We can assess the wind environment of cranes, including both ten-minute means and three second gusts, calculated for every stage of the construction process.
A detailed site assessment provides a tailored understanding of the unique wind environment beyond current practices. We can tailor this study to your needs to facilitate construction on site, estimate and minimize downtime due to excessive windiness for each potential crane on your site.
As construction takes place, we can send you daily bulleting to analyse wind features on your construction site over the coming days to facilitate planning of activities on site and help reduce crane downtime due to wind.
Our forecasting tool allows us to assess conditions at multiple points throughout the day for the different stages of construction ensuring you always get the most accurate results, and most efficient crane use.
Service Areas
Natural Ventilation & Airborne Infection Risk Assessment
We can help you create sustainable buildings by maximising the use of natural ventilation, using high-resolution computational modelling.
The power of our methods allows internal-external coupling without loss of resolution. The internal detail allows for finest information across the building area to captured to produce an energy efficient and comfortable space for users.
We can help you understand the COVID-19 and other airborne infection risks, by modelling internal environments in detail, identifying opportunities to improve design and safety of building users.
Identification of individual air traces and detailed air movement tracking further enhances the information relative to methods such as spatial CO2 tracking for more accurate risk identification.
Cutting-edge partnerships
our Projects
Our partnership with some of the most high-profile and innovative architectural firms has led to sustainable, cutting-edge and cost effective outcomes for high-rise building projects.
Let’s Get in Touch
Contact details
Phone: +44 (0)1869 355260
E-mail: info@wirthresearch.com
Address: The Eco Business Centre
Charlotte Avenue
Bicester
Oxfordshire
OX27 8BL
United Kingdom