Autodesk Ecotect 2010

Take steps towards Sustainable Design

Autodesk Ecotect conceptual building performance analysis software provides a wide range of functions and simulations so you can understand how environmental factors will impact building operation and performance in the early design phase.

Architects and designers work easily in 3D, applying all the tools necessary for building performance analyses that enable energy efficient and sustainable designs.

Features include:

Ecotect features

Shadows and Reflections

You can display the sun’s position and path relative to the model at any date, time, and location. You can also display shadows over the model, isolate individual shadows from selected objects and assign colours in order to differentiate the effects of different objects or buildings. Ecotect allows you to view how sunlight enters through windows and moves around within a space. Tag objects in the model as solar reflectors and track movement of reflections across the site.

Shading Design

Ecotect's shading wizard helps you design shading devices to meet complex shading requirements. It also generates a shape to optimally shade a window for any specified period. You can also generate cutting planes that follow the path of the sun in order to cut profiles and generate site solar envelopes. Once a complex shading system is modelled, quickly calculate how much solar radiation hits any part of the window or over time period.

Solar Analysis

Visualise incident solar radiation on windows and surfaces, showing differential incident solar radiation calculated over any period. Take advantage of site overshadowing to treat different parts of the facade. Compare incident gains during different seasons, clearly showing variations in solar resources available to the building at times when heating or cooling is required. Ecotect can also calculate solar availability over the spaces around your buildings and in highly overshadowed urban sites.

Photovoltaic Array Sizing and Load Matching

You can calculate the amount of solar radiation falling on any object, along with shading and reflection percentages. Combined with total annual radiation, this helps to determine the best location and orientation for solar panels. Calculate the solar radiation incident on any solar collector and estimate its likely energy production throughout the year.

Lighting Design

Calculate daylight factors and luminance levels at any point in the model or over the analysis grid. Once you have calculated daylight factors in your model, use the advanced day lighting features in Autodesk Ecotect to determine potential savings due to daylight-linked lighting.

Right-to-Light

You can analyze site projection angles, assess obstructions, calculate vertical sky components for any point or surface, and visualize the no-sky line in any space. Generate angled test planes from each window, facade being studied, or physically project and colour exactly which parts of a structure are infringing.

Acoustic Analysis

Acoustic analysis options within Ecotect range from simple statistical reverberation times to sophisticated particle analysis as well as ray tracing techniques.

Thermal Analysis

Calculate heating and cooling loads for models with any number of zones or type of geometry. You can assign detailed material properties to all objects as well as annual hourly operational schedules to occupancy, internal gains, infiltration, and individual items of equipment.

Ventilation and Airflow

Generate geometry and analysis grids for export directly to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools. After the calculations are complete, import results back into Ecotect for display within the context of the original model. Choose many different visualisation options, presentation options or view volumetrically as you move around in 3D. The same processes can be used to look at airflow both through and around buildings or complex urban environments.