Insights & Knowledge
Technical articles, research notes, and thought leadership from our simulation practice.
Rooftop Solar EPCs: Why Code-Compliant Arrays Still Fail in Wind
Rooftop arrays designed to IS 875 still lose modules in storms, and the EPC is the one called back to site. The code gives one coefficient for the whole array, but the wind does not load a roof that way. Six OpenFOAM cases show where the load really goes, and what an EPC should change before the clamps and anchors are bought.
Electrolyser Halls: What Air Changes Can and Cannot Do for Hydrogen
A room-average check can show a small hydrogen leak diluted to a few percent of the LFL, while a larger hole in the range IEC 60079-10-1 works with fills the same room past the LFL in under four minutes. We set out what the 2020 edition asks for and run the check on a generic electrolyser room.
Annex 1 Clean-Up Period: Where a 20-Minute Pass Can Mislead
EU GMP Annex 1 sets a clean-up guidance of less than 20 minutes, but the result only holds where it is measured. A two-zone check on a generic Grade B room shows the main zone clearing in under 10 minutes while a poorly swept pocket takes 30.
Hand Calc, Quick CFD or Full Study: Matching Effort to the Decision
A store room ventilation check and a Grade A sign-off can both be called a CFD job, yet they deserve very different effort. I think the decision a result will carry should set the level of analysis. Here is how I choose between a hand calculation, a quick run and a full study.
Liquid Cooling Flow Split Across Cold Plates: What CFD Shows
A CDU sees one flow and one pressure, so it cannot tell you whether every cold plate on a rack manifold gets its share. We ran five OpenFOAM cases on an eight-branch manifold to show how the return arrangement and plate pressure drop set the split, and why one fouled plate can hide behind a healthy CDU reading.
NFPA 855 (2026): Why Deflagration Venting Alone No Longer Covers BESS
The 2026 edition of NFPA 855 no longer lets deflagration vent panels carry a BESS explosion control design on their own. We summarise what the published reviews say changed and run a quick check on a 20 ft container to show why the average gas concentration is not the whole story.
Why a Simulation Report Should Show Its Mesh Check on Page One
Most simulation reports bury the mesh check in an appendix, if they include it at all. I think it belongs on page one, beside the number the decision depends on. Here is why, and what that block should contain.
Grade A Under a LAF: Where Smoke Studies and CFD Each Fool You
An air speed check at the working position can look better with a hopper over the vials than with the table empty, while the vials get no first air at all. A small OpenFOAM study of a Grade A zone under a laminar airflow unit shows how a hopper or an operator's arm turns the flow over the critical zone, and what a smoke study and a CFD model can each tell you.
Hot-Aisle Containment: What CFD Shows That Rack Inlet Sensors Miss
A rack inlet sensor at mid-height can read 20 °C on every rack while 28.7 percent of the inlet area is above the 27 °C recommended limit. A small OpenFOAM study of one rack row, with and without hot-aisle containment, shows where the hot air gets in and why containment only helps once the airflow matches the racks.
BESS Container Gas Venting: What CFD Adds to NFPA 69 Ventilation
A dilution ratio says a ventilated BESS container stays at 10 percent of the lower flammable limit. A small OpenFOAM study of a 20 ft container shows hydrogen layering under the roof, a fifth of the air above the NFPA 69 limit in the usual fan layout, and how moving the same fan changes the picture.
Stress Singularities in FEA: How to Tell a Real Peak from a Mesh Artefact
A red spot at a sharp corner that climbs every time you refine the mesh is usually a stress singularity, not a real stress. Using a simple L-bracket study run at five mesh sizes, this article shows how to recognise one, why the highest number in a model can end up at a support, and the methods that give a stress you can actually design with.
Four Quiet Ways the IS 875 Wind Load Goes Wrong on a Solar Array
The wind-load calculation almost never fails an audit. It fails the structure. IS 875 (Part 3) is a sound loading code, and the arithmetic in most reports is right. What moves the answer is a handful of small choices in how the code gets applied, and on a light tilted array those small moves decide which members are under-built. Here is the chain done properly, and the four places it usually slips.