Thermal

Environmental control is a key challenge in high-stakes industries such as nuclear power and data centers. Temperature and humidity levels must be carefully controlled to ensure equipment availability and proper operation.

The ability of cooling and heating systems to respond to internal or external transients has become a major concern in the context of climate change.

The design and sizing of thermal systems have a significant impact on the size of the selected equipment and on the costs incurred by interfacing disciplines (structures, electrical switchboards, space occupancy, etc.).

Example :  diesel generator, chiller plant, district heating network, ventilation network

Fluid Mechanics

The performance of heating or cooling networks is often limited by the selection of equipment based on an oversized design approach with excessive safety margins. A more accurate estimation of pressure losses, including the consideration of fouling over time, helps avoid unnecessary CAPEX and OPEX costs.

When 0D design approaches are no longer sufficient, controlling and understanding 3D effects becomes necessary. In industrial buildings, risks related to oxygen deficiency or aerosol dispersion must be controlled. For this purpose, indoor airflow conditions—such as ventilation flow rates, dead zones, and temperature non-uniformities—can be modelled during the design phase or measured on-site during operation.

Example : dead-zone detection, mixing analysis, pressure-loss evaluation

System Approach

When projects become complex with many interfacing systems, the systems approach helps to reduce the complexity of the problem while ensuring that couplings are taken into account. 

This approach allows for estimating the energy consumption of the systems, dynamically checking the control choices, optimising the processes to reduce OPEX and lessen your impact.

Example : 3D thermo-aeraulic coupling, control-command, interface between systems