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Release Notes for blueCFD-AIR - v1.

04f

Version: 1.04f

Release date: 13th of September, 2016

The release of v1.04f brings a change to the licensing for blueCFD-AIR v1.04, along with a
few minor bug fixes to ensure that it can work with blueCFD-Core 2016-1 and SketchUp 2016.
With blueCFD-AIR, blueCAPE continues to bring to the public the latest technology in CFD
that allows a more efficient and cost-effective application of Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) to problems in buildings and structures.
Architecture, Engineering and Construction professionals thus gain access to an easy to use
and highly precise tool, to aid in the analysis of one or several design alternatives. It can
import gbXML (Green Building XML) files generated by CAD and BIM applications, as well as
other LEED applications that use gbXML for building and energy information exchange.

The CFD capabilities used by blueCFD-AIR v1.04f are provided by blueCFD-Core 2.2-0,
which is a high quality cross-compiled build version of OpenFOAM 2.2.x for Windows; the
possibility to couple to other CFD software is planned for future versions of blueCFD-AIR.

These release notes are divided into the following sections:

New features since v1.04


New features since v1.03
New features since v1.01
New features since v1.00
New features since v0.99.99*
Known Issues

New features since v1.04


The following is the list of changes and fixes done in version 1.04f of blueCFD-AIR:

1. Changed licensing of blueCFD-AIR to be cost-free for everyone, providing all available


features for free, with the option for paid support available on request through
blueCAPE's website.
2. Updated the installer to also detect the installation path for SketchUp 2015, 2016 and
2017, in order to allow installing blueCFD-AIR's add-on for SketchUp.
3. The MS-MPI 2008R2 DLL files being used by blueCFD-AIR are now also installed on
the same folders as the binaries for blueCFD-Core 2.2-0, which is packaged with
blueCFD-AIR v1.04f.

New features since v1.03


The following is the list of new features added in version 1.04 of blueCFD-AIR:

1. Upgraded blueCFD-Core CFD engine from OpenFOAM 2.1.x to 2.2.x.


2. Added experimental capability to import STL models with obstacles that act as patches.
3.
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3. Introduced a new slick tree interface for the work-flow steps Type and Boundary
Conditions.
4. Added colour coding for boundary conditions on the 3D surfaces of the respective
patches.
5. Improved the representation of mesh section-cuts.
6. Added ability to select multiple patches/surfaces directly in the 3D display.
7. Added passive scalar transport of three categories:
a. Predefined gas tracers (concentration or flux)
b. Custom gas tracers (concentration or flux)
c. Stream tracers (dimensionless)
8. Improved turbulence modelling for natural circulation.
9. Added new turbulences model: Algebraic mixing turbulence model, proposed by Chen &
Xu in 1998.
10. Customizable default values for initial conditions in patches.
11. Improved threshold inlet boundary condition, which now works in any direction.
12. Introduced a relaxed mass flow equilibrium for when all inlets and outlets are of fixed
flow rate/speed.
13. Introduced sanity checking of results, namely: Dimensionless wall distance, Mach
Number and Temperature range.
14. Streamlines: switched from interactive 3D line-widget to plane-widget.
15. Post-processing section-cuts: switched from numeric interface to interactive
plane-widget.
16. Added ability to colour results with solid colour.

Note: The projects saved with blueCFD-AIR 1.03 might not load properly in 1.04, due to the
several evolutionary changes that occurred in the source code.

New features since v1.01


The following is the list of new features added in version 1.03 of blueCFD-AIR:

1. Add-on for SketchUp has been greatly improved, simplified and easier to use.
2. Improve STL importing, by partially lifting the strictness in importing solids.
It now handles rooms/buildings as walls and mostly everything else as patches.
3. Exterior building aerodynamics preview is now enabled.
Works only for STL files and requires that the buildings are the reference layer.
4. Added capabilities to simulate and post-process heat-transfer and buoyant
incompressible flow.
5. Workflow steps for cloud computing have been introduced.
6. Technology preview of the boundary condition that can introduce a pressure jump in a
natural circulation boundary.

New features since v1.00


The following is the list of new features added since the first major release of blueCFD-AIR:

1. More turbulence models have been added to blueCFD-AIR, namely:


Realizable k-epsilon
RNG k-epsilon
SST k-omega
2. Changes made to the list of stopping criteria:
Added the option to stop the simulation only when a maximum residual value is

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2. blueCFD-AIR

reached. Note: these are shown only when the advanced simulation options are
turned on.
Replaced the "quality" target for a relative target convergence, which is relative to
the maximum residual value.

New features since v0.99.99*


The following is the list of new features added since the first technology preview of
blueCFD-AIR:

1. Improved performance when running simulations in both serial and parallel modes.
2. Improved User Guide documentation, including instructions on how to create and export
geometries in Trimble SketchUp and Autodesk Revit.
3. Added plug-in for Revit 2014.
4. Improved the Report feature.
5. Added smart number edit boxes, which allow typing the values manually and to reset to
the last know valid value.
6. Added ability to export the CFD case (OpenFOAM).
7. Fluid properties for the simulation can now be modified.
8. New and updated boundary conditions:
Added ability to prescribe direction of the inlet velocity.
Added ability to prescribe rotation (swirl) of the inlet velocity.
Added ability to prescribe a pressure value in the natural circulation boundaries.
Default options are now stored globally.

Known Issues
Here is a list of the known issues affecting the current version of blueCFD-AIR:

1. The scroll bar of each Options panel component is automatically centered when the tabs
are changed at least twice. This is something done automatically by Qt 4.6 and/or
Windows.
2. It is not possible to use buildings that don't have explicit connection between rooms. For
example, if a room is divided into 2 zones, it is not possible to simulate the room as a
whole.
3. Mesh section-cuts now do provide a near-real section of the mesh. There are situations
where the cutter algorithm isn't able to perform a perfect cut, due to the shape of the cell
or due to numerical uncertainty.
4. When moving the 3D display of the model, with results already present, sometimes the
level-of-detail rendered doesn't unlock on time and leaves the 3D display in a low quality
mode.
The solution is to do a quick click in the 3D display and it should force the render
event to be triggered.
5. The threshold profile is not calculated correctly in the following situations:
Openings that are not aligned with the major axes.
Curved openings.
The opening mesh has low resolution.
6. The swirl boundary condition is not able to properly represent the rotation values in
openings with low resolution mesh.
7. Imposing both inlet and outlet with fixed mass flow rate or speed, can lead to troubles,
due to issues with very small differences in the accountability of mass flow.
8. Very rarely, when a project is opened and closed consecutively in the same session of

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blueCFD-AIR

8.
blueCFD-AIR, the 3D models fail to be displayed.
9. The Apply button of the Spaces stage can crash if it is pressed in-between render
requests.
10. Opacity in certain graphics-cards does not work and can crash blueCFD-AIR. Please
report which card you're using if this occurs.
11. When switching between the 3D view and 2D plots, an intermediate image with the
background from another window may show up.

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