What MicroFlo does:
MicroFlo is a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) system concerned with the numerical simulation of air flow and heat transfer. It gives building designers the information they need for detailed predictions of air flow and heat transfer processes in and around building spaces - taking into account boundary conditions such as the effects of climate, internal energy sources and HVAC systems.
As MicroFlo is part of IES <VE>, it can draw on your existing <VE> building model to simulate rooms - using components as CFD obstructions and defining boundary conditions using ApacheSim thermal simulations. For maximum flexibility, you can also input or adjust any of the parameters yourself. And with automatic grid generation, most of the effort in creating a CFD model is taken away - so you can use CFD as frequently as you want.
MicroFlo simulates internal and external air flows, enabling you to address design issues such as:
• predicting occupant comfort
• optimising supply grille placement
• investigating natural ventilation and mixed mode ventilation
• analysing outdoor wind flow effects
• pedestrian comfort and safety.
How MicroFlo works:
MicroFlo enables you to simulate internal conditions in six easy steps:
1. Run ApacheSim to generate boundary conditions.
2. In MicroFlo, select the rooms you wish to simulate. Define surface boundary conditions if not using ApacheSim, and make any adjustments (eg. you can place supply and extract grilles).
3. Add additional components (eg. people, computers, radiators).
4. MicroFlo's automatic grid generation tool creates a grid based on the shape of the model, windows, surface objects and components.
5. Run and monitor simulation progress.
6. Review results.
Commercial Benefits:
MicroFlo gives building designers all the technical, marketing and communications advantages of CFD - but faster, more efficiently and with greatly reduced effort.
