CD-adapco and NCAS have agreed exclusive partnership terms that will lead to an urban scale weather modelling code. The prediction methodology, using the UK Met Office’s operational Universal Modelling code to drive the localised Star-CD models and building and street-level scales, is hoped to enable five-day forecasting of urban air quality, dispersion and heat transfer.
A detailed assessment of three major commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes has led to indications that proper use of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) capabilities leads to essentially identical results from all three codes and is a feasible approach. NCAS teams, initially at the Universities of Southampton and Reading, led by Professors Ian Castro and Stephen Belcher, respectively, are now concentrating on further exploitation of CD-adapco’s modelling techniques.
Professor Castro, who led the evaluation of commercial software at Southampton, said: ‘Star-Design is very user-friendly for complex geometries, and generating polyhedral meshes, which we consider essential for general urban topologies. There is a growing need to be able to simulate flows in urban areas for applications ranging from pedestrian comfort and wind loading of buildings to dispersion of traffic pollutants and terrorist releases. This new partnership promises the tools we need to tackle these issues.’
