blueFIRE

blueFIRE is a robust computer program to simulate the propagation of wildlife fires. Due to its degree of interactivity and faster-than-real-time nature, it aims to be a helpful tool in forest-fire fighting.

Several physical and numerical models are available to choose from, allowing the user to adapt the program to his/her needs or to conform to best practices established with other modelling systems, like FARSITE. Also, the range of valid fuel models comprises several classification systems, including the one from the Northern Forest Fire Laboratory, USA.

It has the capacity to employ detailed meteorological fields (e.g., prognostic) in the forest-fire simulation, alongside variations in the fuel moisture content.

Possible uses include but are not limited to training, decision-aid, controlled fire planning or, naturally, forest-fire fighting.

blueFIRE has been designed from the ground-up to be a flexible tool, that can either work as a standalone application or embedded in other, more encompassing, environments.

modeFRONTIER

modeFRONTIER is a multi-objective optimization and design environment, written to allow easy coupling to almost any computer aided engineering (CAE) tool, whether commercial or in-house.

modeFRONTIER provides an environment which allows product engineers and designers to integrate their various CAE tools, such as CAD, Finite Element Structural Analysis and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. Using a variety of state-of-the-art optimization techniques, ranging from gradient-based methods to genetic algorithms, the process or design of interest can be optimized by specifying objectives and defining variables which affect factors such as geometric shape and operating conditions.

modeFRONTIER in effect becomes a wrapper around the CAE tool, performing the optimization by modifying the value assigned to the input variables, and monitoring the outputs.

A list of test cases and applications can be consulted on Esteco's website.

blueCFD

Introduction

blueCAPE is proud to present blueCFD, a new service package now available upon request, of a high quality cross-compiled build version of OpenFOAM® for up-to-date Windows XP, Vista and Seven, both 32 and 64bit, with some additional tweaks, executables and scripts, in order to maintain usability under a Windows environment. blueCFD provides: OpenFOAM 1.7 working on Windows XP, Vista and Seven, both 32 and 64bit; Functionality with the original scripts of OpenFOAM in Windows; The original ParaView 3.8.0 for Windows, in 32 and 64bit versions. The vtkPOpenFOAMReader is the plug-in now built in ParaView, for reading OpenFOAM simulation files, because it offers better support for large files and multi-platform environments. Discretizer, a free mesh program for CFD, ready to be used in Windows. MPICH2 is used for running OpenFOAM and ParaView in Windows with a multi-core and multi-machine environment. A Portable functionality, that allows copying the installed blueCFD into an USB drive and ready to be used in other Windows machines.

blueCFD is available via one of three possible ways:

• You can build yourself the software packages that make up the contents of blueCFD, by following the detailed instructions found here and in wiki/forums;

• For 50€ + delivery, we will send you a DVD with everything precompiled and with an install/uninstall package. Updates and patches to the DVD version of blueCFD will be made available for registered blueCFD users.

• For 50€ and with (free) registration on our site (see the frontpage), you will have access to the blueCFD area on our Download Center. There you will be able to download the blueCFD installation package and access updates that may be made available. As for the source code, you will have to follow the instructions on the wiki page, but will be entitled to support from us during the process.

In order to purchase blueCFD, you now have two available methods:

• Go to our contact page and send us a message from our form, with the subject "blueCFD" and state if you want the DVD version or just the downloadable version.

• Register on our site and gain access to our online shop. From there you can purchase immediately blueCFD. The DVD will be shipped as soon as possible and the download area will become accessible after we have allowed it.

Further to the above, and as a small company, we will be glad to discuss your project if you see it can benefit from our expertise, as evidenced by the existence of blueCFD (e.g., if you want to provide a set of Windows executables for a book you might be preparing). For more questions, please refer to our statement of service below.

Features

Features available:

• With blueCFD 1.7-1, OpenFOAM 1.7 is running on Windows XP, Vista and 7, with both 32 and 64bit versions. Around 97% (estimated) of the features listed on the release notes of OpenFOAM 1.7 are available. The optional mesh converter ccm26ToFoam is also included, but not tested.

• There are 3 flavors of OpenFOAM available in this package: mingw-w32 Single and Double Precision; mingw-w64 Double Precision.

• The code documentation was rebuilt, this time to provide a Qt Compiled Help file named index.qhc, thus providing over 500MB of HTML files and images, in one single 220MB easy to use file, with integrated indexing and search functions on a side bar.

• Although the code documentation is available, the code itself is packaged independently in the DVD, and should only be used in compatible platforms, such as Linux. With Cygwin 1.7 it's possible too, see the wiki page for more information. More specifically, this is a limitation only due to Windows not having a fully case sensitive file system by default; were as with Cygwin, you can get access to the hidden capability of Windows and NTFS full case sensitivity as a compatibility with POSIX. The code packages include the modifications that allow building OpenFOAM 1.7 with gcc-4.4.4 mingw32 and mingw-w64.

• ParaView 3.8.0 in 32 and 64bit Windows versions, which already as the vtkPOpenFOAMReader plug-in built in. The version of ParaView is the the one with MS-MPI, downloaded from the official site.

• MPICH2 1.2.1p1 is used for parallel processing with OpenFOAM, on 32 and 64bit Windows versions. It should be easily updated to more recent versions. Installation is optional.

• Batch files are included, to provide a "Windows Command Line" environment to run OpenFOAM.

• MSys is also included and configured to work with the original scripts of OpenFOAM, with some minor tweaks to improve the functionality. For example, the scripts foamJob and foamExec will work properly with parallel job handling on Windows.

• Discretizer has been added to the blueCFD package, to provide a GUI meshing utility and can also work as a GUI for using OpenFOAM. Works under MSys and Windows command line.

• blueCFD now provides a Portable functionality, that provides an easy way to copy the installed blueCFD into an USB drive and is then ready to be used in other Windows machines. This way you can use blueCFD anywhere, anytime, as long as a Windows (XP, Vista, Seven or similar) machine is available to you! This also includes MPI, for parallel executions, but when the firewall is restrictive, it is limited to the available cores in machine where the blueCFD Portable installation is running. The Portable functionality can even replicate itself upon request, or you can copy the folder where it is installed into any other disks or other USB memory devices!

Features currently unavailable are: fully case-sensitive file names; compiling OpenFOAM libraries on Windows; directly handling compressed files with the Scotch library. Full release notes are available here. A list of known working tutorials is available here. NOTE: as of blueCFD 1.7-1, all of the tutorials are working with all built architecture versions.

Statement of Service

blueCFD is a service provided by blueCAPE to the public community, and includes complete builds of 32 and 64bit versions of OpenFOAM® for Windows. We have decided to do this out of our own need to have a good and reliable compilation of OpenFOAM on Windows 32 and 64bit versions. Nonetheless, at this point in time, we cannot afford to have the compiled files on some server, ready for download, due to the setup and maintenance costs associated with this option.

You, the user, can get hold of blueCFD via one of three possible ways:

• If you want to cross-compile OpenFOAM for Windows on your own you can follow the detailed instructions, found here;

• For 70 US$ / 50€ + delivery, we will send you a DVD with everything precompiled and with an install/uninstall package. Updates and patches to the DVD version of blueCFD will be made available for registered blueCFD users.

• For 70 US$ / 50€ and with (free) registration on our site (see the frontpage), you will have access to the blueCFD area on our Download Center. There you will be able to download the blueCFD installation package and access updates that may be made available. As for the source code, you will have to follow the instructions on the wiki page, but will be entitled to support from us during the process.

For those who purchase the blueCFD service, are also given rights to:

• Get support on issues related to the blueCFD package;

• Request updated builds of OpenFOAM 1.7.x (current bug fix version);

• Request fixes for issues related to cross-compiling - in other words, things that work in Linux, but fail in Windows. NOTE: some requests may currently be impossible to grant, since there are still some limitations to the cross-compilers.

• Any other requests will be analyzed individually and met only if both parties reach an agreement.

This service does not provide:

• Support on questions about CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics);

• Support on specific OpenFOAM® questions.

For any of these, please refer to the following links: OpenCFD Ltd, the maker of OpenFOAM CFD Online, for information on all things CFD CFD Online Forums Official OpenFOAM Forum OpenFOAM Forum - Windows Installation Unofficial OpenFOAM Wiki CD-adapco Services for your large CFD projects

So, if you need more information, please consider the following:

• contact us if you have questions about building OpenFOAM for Windows;

• contact forums and/or read wikis for general questions about CFD and/or OpenFOAM;

• contact OpenCFD regarding specific questions about OpenFOAM, either through their site or the dedicated forum;

• contact us regarding CFD consultancy work, but please be advised that we are a small (and proud) company with limited resources, i.e., if your project is big, our best recommendation is for you to contact, for example, the (very) professional services of the CD-adapco group.

Disclaimer

blueCAPE Lda is responsible for blueCFD and this version of cross-compiled OpenFOAM®. blueCAPE Lda is in no way associated with OpenCFD Ltd, nor holds any copyrights over OpenFOAM®. This offering is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited, the producer of the OpenFOAM software and owner of the OPENFOAM® and OpenCFD® trade marks. Also, this offering is not approved or endorsed by Kitware, the producer of the ParaView software and owner of ParaView trade marks. Nor does blueCFD have endorsements from any other company, except for blueCFD's provider blueCAPE.

The blueCFD software package is provided under the GNU Public License (GPL version 3), as are most of the softwares included in it. This includes the NO WARRANTY issue as indicated in the GPL. blueCFD is provided for a small fee if you, the user, decide to receive it via post, since it also includes added value as a service and there are costs that we cannot cover at the moment.

OpenFOAM is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. See here, for a description of the GNU General Public License terms under which you can copy the files.

Trademarks:

• OPENFOAM is a registered trade mark of OpenCFD Limited, the producer of the OpenFOAM software.

• ParaView is a registered trademark of Kitware.

• Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

• Cygwin is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc.

• Windows XP, Vista and 7 operating systems are registered trademarks of Microsoft.

• Creator of Discretizer is Björn Bergqvist.

• Other softwares included may have their own trademarks, but those references weren't found at the time of the creation of this document.

gbXML2STL

Introduction

blueCAPE is proud to present a new software product: gbXML2STL Exporter. This tool has been created to help fill in a gap between Building Information Modeling (BIM) applications and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) applications, by exporting 3D geometry contained in Green Building XML files (gbXML) to Stereolithography files (STL). gbXML2STL is a byproduct of an undergoing product project named blueAIR. It works from the command line and is currently only working in Windows, but it can easily be built in Linux and Mac OS X (feel free to get in touch with us if you have such a need). The relevant building components (openings, rooms and connections between rooms) are exported as solid objects into a single STL file, or into individual STL files. Combined with the command line execution style, this provides an easy to use exporter, useful for batch and script-based work environments.

Single copies of gbXML2STL Exporter are available for 70 US$ / 50€. For more information and/or to purchase this tool, including requests to include this software in your distribution packages, please go to our contact page and send us a message from our form, with the subject “gbXML2STL”. Expect replies during weekdays between 9h00 and 19h00 UTC.

BIM and CFD – the interaction problem

Building Information Models are usually stored with closed proprietary file formats. This leads to the necessity to export them to other formats or even having to redo the whole model in another application.

Additionally, the original files usually pack excessive information, when compared with the requirements for 3D Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations. However, there is already a common platform for all these softwares, devised to exchange information between different applications. It is called gbXML, which stands for Green Building XML Schema.

The Open Green Building XML Schema, Inc., is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and maintaining this schema, in order to give the industry an open and simple file format, for exchanging information between building information models (BIM and CAD) with software for analyzing energy efficiency of buildings based on the 3D digital models.

Today this is a defacto industry standard, adopted by Autodesk, Graphisoft, Bentley, Carrier and many others.

gbXML – the bridge

gbXML is in a textual, human readable, organized XML format, providing rich model information for energy analysis, including:

• complete and simplified building geometry;

• indicates opening, wall characteristics, as well as shades;

• building geographic location and orientation;

• energy analysis information, before and after simulations.

The gbXML.org website has a list of applications that currently use gbXML (here), further evidence to the fact that this is now a widely accepted format among the BIM/CAD and energy efficiency building model analyzers.

gbXML2STL – first step in 3D building simulation

Our approach to the problem has been via Computational Fluid Dynamics, where the current set of tools available in dedicated Building Analysis Environments has a somewhat limited feature set. Moreover, the absence of a reliable bridge between the BIM world and the CFD world meant the existence of an additional obstacle to the work of CFD students, professionals and enthusiasts with an interest in the exciting world of aiding the development of energy efficient buildings.

Also, the absence of a simple way to take BIM data into more established formats, is keeping other forms of 3D simulations on the side, e.g.: simulation and development of domotic robots for cleaning and managing houses, warehouses, malls and other big and small building constructions, adapted/optimized to specific buildings and areas.

gbXML2STL comes to fill in a gap between the world of building model designing and the world of simulation, by providing direct 3D geometric representations of the building models in STL files.

The main difference between this exporter and other STL exporters, is that the other ones are mostly used for rapid prototyping, and do not care about the discrimination of openings and rooms.

gbXML2STL – how it works

There are 3 export modes available through the command line:

full building geometry into a single object, with openings defined as individual objects, all into a single ASCII STL file: gbXML2STL building.xml building3D
	full building geometry, but with rooms saved into separate STL files, with openings saved as individual solid objects along with their respective room; here export of room connections is optional: gbXML2STL -s -c building.xml building3D
export only one room with openings saved as individual solid objects along with it: gbXML2STL -r sp-1-room -c building.xml building3D

For all of these modes, one can choose to export internal, external or both types of openings (optionally including air openings), into individual STL files, for those CFD applications that are unable to:

• handle more than one solid object per file;

• create meshes inside connected, but closed, volumes.

Also, to provide easy script-ability for this process, the gbXML2STL Exporter is provided as a command line executable with console output. With that in mind, it has an option to output a list of room names, with respective openings names, the latter discriminated by type.

Release notes of gbXML2STL 0.65

gbXML2STL 0.65 uses(d) the following packages:

• MinGW gcc 3.4.2

• Qt 4.5.1 (under the GNU Lesser General Public License)

• VTK 5.4.0 (with a BSD license)

• OpenCV 1.0, October 18, 2006 (with the Intel License Agreement For Open Source Computer Vision Library)

Capabilities:

• Nearly full export capability of internal geometries of buildings defined in gbXML file format.

• Export external surfaces, ex/including shades as walls/openings.

• Curved walls are properly processed. There should be only minor bugs (see limitations).

• Wall thickness is taken into account when the gbXML model provides them geometrically.

• All measures defined in the XML Schema for gbXML, are converted to International System units.

• Export to ASCII STL.

Limitations:

• It's currently specialized for exporting internal geometries.

• External geometries are exported, but there are still some limitations.

• There is a limit of 50cm thick walls.

• When exporting, make sure there aren't curved walls (with openings), that have arcs with angles larger than 100 degrees. If so, split those walls, in order to avoid export errors when exporting from the BIM tool to gbXML. In the extreme situation, you might need to split the wall between every opening.

blueAIR

Introduction

A software development project is underway at blueCAPE, to introduce into the AEC community a new application for Computational Fluid Dynamics applied to the built environment. Its name is blueAIR and is intended to provide AEC professionals with an easy to use and highly precise tool, for aiding the development and auditing of computer modeled buildings.

Currently it's sole input format is gbXML, although IFC is planned to be added in the future. This way it can easily interact with already existing CAD and BIM applications, as well as other LEED applications that use gbXML for building and energy information exchange.

The current CFD core software used by blueAIR is OpenFOAM, a free open source CFD software package produced by a commercial company, OpenCFD Ltd. Currently blueAIR is under fierce development and its first release is expected in the near future. Below are some pictures to provide some previews to blueAIR.

Previews

These are some preview pictures for blueAIR. Click on them to see the full picture.

blueAIR takes advantage of modern wide screens. Displays the relation between the odd names extracted from the gbXML file.

Gives control over how the mesh is generated.

The visualization of the mesh can be assisted by selecting elements of the building.

Filtering of openings is done with human readable filtering.

Quality indication during simulation, and boundary conditions are done inline with the openings.

Here is an example of visualization of results: a few streamlines, to check how is it flowing.