wufi.htm

WUFI workshops - computer modeling of hygrothermal (moisture and heat) transfer through walls. These workshops, with instruction provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) of the United States and the Fraunhofer Institute of Building Physics in Germany, are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) /Building Enclosure Technology and Environment Council (BETEC) and others. Each student brings his/her own laptop, receives free software, and will run simulations. The computer modeling enables the user to diagnose or design wall configurations within a user-specified geographic region for which NOAA has gathered weather data for decades. Even mold growth in the building can be predicted using this model.

WUFI Pro 2008 Workshops: (Download 2008 brochure with registration form here)

February 4-5, 2008 Portland, OR, Doubletree Lloyd Center, Portland

May 5-6, 2008 -- St. Louis, MO, Renaissance St. Louis Hotel-Airport, 9801 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO, 63134. Download brochure for class registration and hotel reservations at group rates.

September 25-26, 2008 Miami, FL Location to be announced. Following this workshop will be a WUFI Plus workshop, September 29-30 (WUFI Pro is a prerequisite to WUFI Plus).

Approx. October 30 – December 15, 2008 So. California

WUFI Plus is a whole building simulation model that solves for the heat and moisture balances in buildings. It solves all the wall, roof and basement (simplified for basements) components and the indoor conditions with different heat and air conditioning approaches.

The advantage for all the existing WUFI users is that it employs the same structure we have used so far for the 1-D. Users can become whole building energy and moisture experts at the same time.

Background: The hygrothermal behaviour of a building component that is exposed to weather is an important aspect of the overall performance of a building. Today the hygric transport phenomena through a building envelope are well understood and a realistic assessment of all relevant effects can be carried out by one of the numerous models and computer programs, that have been developed in different countries over the last years. The calculation of the hygrothermal performance of a part of the envelope is state-of-the-art, but until now the total behaviour of the actual whole building is not accounted for. Its importance is increasing as modern dwellings become more airtight and show elevated indoor humidity levels.

WUFI Plus is a new holistic model that takes into account the main hygrothermal effects, like moisture sources and sinks inside a room, moisture input from the envelope due to capillary action, diffusion and vapour ab-/desorption as a response to the exterior and interior climate conditions, heat source and sinks inside the room, heat input from the envelope, the solar energy input through walls and windows and hygrothermal sources and sinks due to natural or mechanical ventilation will be presented. Beside the theoretical background, several practical applications will be shown.

WUFI Plus 2008 (Whole building simulation, prerequisite is WUFI Pro):

There will be three WUFI Plus classes this year, either 2 full days or 1 full day plus 2 half-days:

CLASS 1 -- Miami, FL: September 29-30 (location to be announced).

CLASS 2-- Napa Valley, CA: Dec. 3-4 (following advanced WUFI conference at same location).

Download the brochure here for 3 WUFI Plus classes to be held this year.

Reserve for a WUFI Plus class (prerequisite is WUFI Pro).

“This breaks new ground for energy, IAQ & Building Envelope studies. Practitioners who are not using WUFI Plus will end up relegated to being ‘also rans’.” – Roger Morse, Morse Zehnter Associates

“A valuable robust tool matches with first rate instruction.” – Lee Durston, BCRA Design

“The new WUFI Plus software is a great analytical tool for engineers and architects. Expanding on the detailed capabilities and ease-of-use from WUFI Pro, Hartwig, Achilles and Andreas have exceeded expectations again….The 2-day WUFI Plus course was well done: demonstrating not only by hands-on examples, but also providing thorough validation and background information needed to understand its capabilities. I highly recommend this course for advanced users of WUFI wanting to take their skills to the next level.” -- Rick Duncan

ADVANCED WUFI Conference 2008 (Prerequisite WUFI Pro):

December 1-2, 2008 Napa, CA

This 4th annual international session is for previous WUFI graduates or students with equivalent experience in

modeling. This year's 5-day session will be taught by Drs. Hartwig Kuenzel and Andreas Holm of the Fraunhofer

Institute of Building Physics (Germany) and Drs. Achilles Karagiozis and André Desjarlais of Oak Ridge

National Laboratory (U.S.). Curriculum will include WUFI 4 (1D), WUFI 2D, and the new WUFI Plus. WUFI users will be invited to present. Click here for a representative program from 2007. In the middle of the program, some WUFI users will present on interesting cases they have had using WUFI. This conference is geared around sharing of information.

or if listed, click on the brochure for the class you want, and fill out the registration form.

There are now two user groups, one started by the Fraunhofer Institute and one started by U.S. WUFI users.

Besides the 80 or so cities in the WUFI database, there is additional data available from the National Climate Data

Center (NCDC). The data is for about 250 U.S. cities and covers about 30 years. You can then use this data in

the Weather File Analyzer (comes with your WUFI software) to compute the 90% hot and cold years and convert

he files into WUFI-compatible files. They can then be used in WUFI. Here is the link:

Another web site that may be of interest for forensic investigation is Compu-Weather - here is their link:

There is a new web site with lots of information, and a nifty graphic demonstration of WUFI in action. Go here for