Simulations
To assess the resources of a site and match them with the project needs we need to proceed with an accurate quantification of all environmental properties (sun, views, noise, wind) at their full dimensions (scalar, volumetric, dynamic, directional).
Our solar and visibility simulators provide such information relying on the combination of custom CPU/GPU ray-tracing and rasterization algorithms based on fast, minimum-storage, ray-triangle intersection. By using solar and meteorological models, we are able to deliver for a given sensor point position, the total incident insolation in terms of both time [h] and energy [kWh/m2/year] in both scalar and vectorial terms and for both 3D (yearly) or 4D (hourly and monthly) dimensions. The model computes the direct clear-sky component, and cloud-cover and diffused component can be adjusted in the visualizer.
Concerning view simulations, we can quantify free view from a given observation point as a fraction [%] of a visible area or volume (circular and spherical), delivering open-space visibility results in both scalar and vectorial terms, or target-visibility related to target areas (lakes, rivers, forests, and custom areas) as portion [%] of the full spherical field-of-view.
For the analysis of airflows, we use a computational-fluid-dynamics numerical solver. For a given location the main seasonal wind patterns (typical seasonal or daytime speeds and directions) are automatically retrieved from meteorological data providers. Successively a logarithmic Manwell wind profile is applied to compute the vertical wind shear. Finally, the 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation outputs a scalar and vector field on wind velocity in terms of speed [m/s] and direction.
Similarly, for the analysis of street-noise, we use an acoustical numerical solver that, given the automatically gathered geometry of the neighbouring streets and some traffic parameters, computes the propagation of traffic noise to every sensor point. The simulation uses average values for typical materials, and average street emissions according to their categories (highway, primary street, secondary etc.)
Direct, reflected and diffracted street noise propagation can be considered to compute sound pressure levels [dB(A)] based on the CNOSSOS European standard.