Native 12 Wind Directions and Expanded Simulation Domain

What problem does this solve?

Previously, ArchiWind DETAILED simulations for pedestrian wind comfort were typically run using 16 wind directions, regardless of the requirements of the target standard.

For IS 5281 (DETAILED) studies, this led to a few friction points:

• the standard only requires 12 wind directions
• wind statistics often had to be interpolated to match the assessment directions
• climate inputs from standard workflows (e.g. .TAB files) could not be used directly
• the simulation domain size was constrained by the higher total number of wind directions

Together, this made IS 5281 workflows less direct and slightly harder to audit or explain.

Before vs After — Methodology Comparison

Below is a high-level comparison of how IS 5281 (DETAILED) studies are handled before and after this update.

1. Before the update

For IS 5281 projects, ArchiWind would:

• run 16 wind directions, even when fewer were required
• interpolate wind statistics to map climate data onto assessment directions
• limit the simulation domain to 450 m, to keep overall simulation cost under control

In practice, this meant:

• unnecessary simulations beyond the standard’s requirements
• indirect use of climate data
• slightly reduced upstream and lateral wind context

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2. After the update

With this update, ArchiWind now:

• runs exactly 12 wind directions, aligned with IS 5281 (DETAILED)
• uses native 12-direction wind statistics, without directional interpolation
• supports direct ingestion of .TAB climate files from standard-compliant workflows
• reallocates the saved computational budget to expand the simulation domain to 600 m

This results in:

• better alignment with the IS 5281 methodology
• improved wind development and surrounding context
• clearer, more transparent assessment logic

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What changed under the hood? (High level)

You don’t need to do anything differently. Internally, ArchiWind now:

• adapts the number of simulated wind directions to the target standard
• consumes climate data in its native 12-direction form
• redistributes computational effort to increase the simulation domain
• automatically configures reporting metadata accordingly

Your workflow, inputs, and UI remain unchanged.

What does this mean for you?

• ✅ IS 5281 (DETAILED) studies use exactly the wind directions required by the standard
• ✅ Climate data can be used directly from .TAB files, without preprocessing
• ✅ Wind statistics are native, not interpolated
• ✅ Larger simulation domain (600 m) improves result robustness
• ✅ No increase in overall simulation cost
• ✅ No new settings, toggles, or workflow changes