This page is organised the same way as the modules in WindSim with a few additional sections covering Installation, Upgrades, General aspects and post-processing with GLview.
If this page doesn't solve your problem, you should consult the page; Known bugs and shortcomings. If you still have no solution, inform us about your problem; support@windsim.com
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Incomplete download | |
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| If you have problems with the installation after downloading from windsim.com, you should first verify that no data was lost or corrupted during the transfer. At the download page a checksum of the transferred file is given. The checksum serves as a fingerprint. You should be able to reproduce the checksum on your PC using the program fsum.exe, available at the download page. | ||
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Virus check program | |
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| On some PCs we have seen that running virus check programs have halted the WindSim installation. Turn off any virus check program during the WindSim installation. | ||
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Installation error | |
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If one of the following error messages appears during installation: 1) "WindSim m.n Setup has failed. If the problem persists, please contact Product Support." 2) "This advertised application will not be installed because it might be unsafe. Contact your administrator to change the installation user interface option of the package to basic." Then you should open a Command Prompt and cd to the folder where you saved the downloaded Setup_WindSim.msi file. Run the msiexec program as follows: msiexec /qb /I Setup_WindSim.msi |
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Upgrade of projects from an old to WindSim 4.4.n | |
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When starting a project made with and old WindSim version with a newer version, you will get a question about
"project upgrade". We recommend you to answer "Yes", and re-run all modules in order to
create new reports according to the new version report templates. The setting of properties
are unchanged, you only have to press the "Start" button in all modules, except Wind Fields.
In Wind Fields all your former results are kept, still the module has got a red button.
There are two ways you can turn the red button into green: 1) By doing a dummy simulation, specifying a sector that will be of no interest and do a 1 iteration simulation. 2) By changing the time stamp of the log file windfield_status.log found in the log folder in your current project. Open the file in an editor and save it, this will give the file a new time stamp. The check on the status of the Wind Fields module is done by comparing the time stamps of dtm_status.log and windfield_status.log. If windfield_status.log is newer than dtm_status.log the Wind Fields button is green. You have to re-start WindSim to see the effect of the time stamp change. |
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E0003 -- Program expiration date reached. Update license under Help - About WindSim | |
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| If you get the message that the program expiration is reached and still the date under "Help" - "About WindSim..." is valid, it might be due to an adjustment of your system date. The hardware key will stop working if the system date is changed more than one day. Contact support for re-programming of the hardware key. | ||
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Change status module selector | |
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A module selector could have three different colours according to the status.
When a module is updated the module selector is green, when running it is
orange and when not updated it is red. Whether a module is updated or not
is determined by the following checkpoints. 1) Comparison of the current properties of the module with the properties of the last run. 2) Successful generation of the module results. 3) Dependency on other modules. Whenever the properties of a module is changed, the module selector turns red marking that it needs to be re-ran to be updated. Simply changing the properties back to what it was at the last run will turn the module selector green again. The "Revert to saved" found in the File menu, will automatically re-set all properties to the values prior to the last time the modules were ran. If a module selector turns red due to a corruption of a project, which could happen if some of the results is removed or corrupted, then it is possible to re-set the status manually by using the hash code. The hash code is a fingerprint of all the properties belonging to a module. The hash code for the modules Terrain and Wind Fields is given in the project file .ws and in the layout file(s) .lws for all the other modules. These files are found on the root folder of the project. The hash code is given with the following syntax: <HashCodeLastRun>185120198</HashCodeLastRun>If the hash code of the current setting is not equal to the hash code of the last run then the module selector will be red. Taking the hash code of the current setting and replace this value with hash code of the last run found in the .ws will force the module selector to become green. In version 4.6.1 the hash codes are given in Properties found in the File menu. Make a copy of the hash code Current and replace it with the value HashCodeLastRun in the .ws or .lws file, save the file, exit WindSim and start WindSim again, now the module selector has been forced to become green. |
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The system cannot execute the specified program | |
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| The Wind Fields module will not run if there is insufficient Virtual memory. Adjust your Virtual memory to 2048 MB. The Virtual memory is changed under: "Start" - "Settings" - "Control Panel" - "System" - "Advanced" - "Settings (Performance)" - "Advanced" - "Change (Virtual memory)" - Initial and maximum size is both set to 2048 MB. | ||
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Dynamic memory allocation | |
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WindSim version 4.6.0 is upgraded with a newer version of the PHOENICS flow solver.
The current PHOENICS version 3.6.1 uses dynamic memory allocation. Dynamic memory allocation allows the users to run model sizes up to the limit of available hardware memory. Still the users might get the following error: ***************************************** Insufficient Virtual Memory!! Set the CHAM.INI [F-Array] Earth entry to nnnnnn and try again. If this does not work try increasing the size of the Windows swap file *****************************************Then the size of [F-Array] Earth in the CHAM.INI file has to be increased. For a default installation the file is found at: C:\VECTOR\WindSim4.6.0\Simulator\Programs\Phoenics\D_ALLPRO\CHAM.INI. The default value of the [F-Array] Earth is 10000000: [F-array] Satellite = 2000000 Earth = 10000000Note that in order for PHOENICS to correctly interpret the setting in the CHAM.INI file there must be a space between the equal sign and the array size value for Earth. Setting the array size value to for example 200000000 must be written as follows: [F-array] Satellite = 2000000 Earth = 200000000In principle there should be no need for an explicit setting of the array dimensions when dynamic memory allocation is used. But, since the working array in PHOENICS, the so called F-array, is used in several subroutines, where the needed size is not known in advance, a special growing of the array is implemented. Initially the array size is set equal to the value in the CHAM.INI file. If the array size is insufficient during execution the array size is repeatedly doubled until the size is sufficiently large. The penalty with this growing technique is that during the doubling also the needed amount of memory is doubled, and for large models the hardware memory limit might be reached. As an alternative to the growing of the array, a sufficiently large array size could be initialized by increasing the size in the CHAM.INI file. This setting will be equivalent to a static memory allocation, although now each user has the possibility to set the size in accordance with their available hardware resources. |
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Coupled solver | |
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A coupled solver was available for testing in a limited period in version 4.6.0.In version 4.6.1. it
is availabel on a permanent basis.
In order to active the new solver in version 4.6.0 two modifications had to be done
1) Make a copy of C:\VECTOR\WindSim4.6.0\Simulator\data\phoenics\q1_460_migal to q1 2) Activate the solver in the file C:\VECTOR\WindSim4.6.0\Simulator\Programs\Phoenics\D_ALLPRO\config by editing the first lines as showed below: *------ The configuration file CONFIG for PHOENICS version 3.6 ------ * ID=:N8M;X7VD;6P/G2AWP/S-)/SFV MIGAL October 2006 * * ID=:V-.DNM4I)PX2G2A3=B9WJWSFU WINSIM Dec 2007With this setting both the default Segregated solver and the new Coupled solver can be executed. However, when the test period finish at the end of October 2006, the original setting must be reset. This is done with the two opposite steps: 1) Make a copy of C:\VECTOR\WindSim4.6.0\Simulator\data\phoenics\q1_460_no_migal to q1 2) Deactivate the solver in the file C:\VECTOR\WindSim4.6.0\Simulator\Programs\Phoenics\D_ALLPRO\config by editing the first lines as showed below: *------ The configuration file CONFIG for PHOENICS version 3.6 ------ * * ID=:N8M;X7VD;6P/G2AWP/S-)/SFV MIGAL October 2006 * ID=:V-.DNM4I)PX2G2A3=B9WJWSFU WINSIM Dec 2007 |
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Checking blocking effects | |
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| Make and open a vtf file under "3D visualisation". Chose the sector where the possibility of having a blocking effect is largest, which is the normal direction to the largest obstacles in the terrain. When opening the file apply 2D Speed as scalar. Make the grid invisible under "Model" - "Change part attribute". Set a horizontal cutting plane at the upper boundary, under "Scalar" - "Cutting Planes..." by setting the normal to 0 0 1 and setting the z value to the upper limit of your model. There are no blocking effects if you see a uniform field with the same value as the specified wind speed above the boundary layer. | ||