2024

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2024-09-11

• Drafts: You can now view and access drafts for simulation setups. This feature allows you to leave a simulation setup mid-process and resume it later without losing progress.

• Fix bug data not loading on Analytics page: On the Analytics page, turbines outside the LES (Large Eddy Simulation) domain are now filtered out from the dropdown, as no data is available for these turbines. This improves clarity and ensures only relevant data is presented.

• Update Whiffle LES Model: Whiffle Wind has been updated to use Whiffle LES Model (ASPIRE) 13.0.0.

2024-09-03

• Self Sign-Up & SSO Integration: We've successfully migrated to a new login system that now supports self sign-up and Single Sign-On (SSO). This change streamlines the onboarding process and enhances security, allowing users to quickly and securely access their accounts using existing credentials from supported SSO providers.

• Removal of "Show More" Button: The "Show More" button has been removed from the simulation listing page, allowing for a cleaner and more intuitive overview of available simulations. This update ensures that all simulations and related actions, such as Download and Copy & Edit, are immediately visible and accessible, enhancing user efficiency and experience.

• Enhanced Loading Speed: We've optimized the loading performance of the simulation listing page, resulting in faster access to your simulations. You can now view your simulations with minimal delay.

• Font Rendering Issue Resolved: A rendering issue that affected font display in Safari has been fixed. This was achieved by implementing the Next.js font package, ensuring consistent and accurate font rendering across all browsers, including Safari.

• Draft Deletion: The Whiffle Wind API now supports the deletion of drafts. This feature will soon be available in the Whiffle Wind web application as well.

• Fields Variable Names: Updated variable names in the fields data to be more descriptive, improving clarity and maintainability. The following changes were made:

  • "M" is now called "induction-corrected-hub-height-horizontal-wind-speed" with units "m/s".

  • "phi" is now called "hub-height-wind-direction" with units "degree".

  • "ti" is now called "induction-corrected-hub-height-turbulence-intensity" with no units.

  • "T" is now called "temperature" with units "degree_C".

2024-08-15

• Multi-Wind Farm Upload: You can now include multiple wind farms, enabling more advanced simulation setups and the ability to control settings, such as thrust and turbine model, on a wind farm level.

• Thrust Control: Toggle the thrust on and off for each individual wind farm. Allowing you to decide in which wind farm the turbines execute a thrust force on the flow, and in which the turbines impose zero drag on the wind flow

• LES Domain Inclusion: Decide whether a wind farm should be included in the suggested LES (Large Eddy Simulation) domain or not, providing more flexibility in calculating different scenarios of aerodynamic losses.

• Simplified CSV Uploader: Upload a single CSV per wind farm with columns for latitude, longitude, and name. Additionally, set a turbine model for each wind farm, making it easier to switch turbine models as needed.

• Met Mast Step: The placement of met masts now has its own step in the setup wizard, ensuring a more organized and efficient setup process. This new step includes a simplified CSV uploader, allowing you to upload a CSV with latitude, longitude, and name columns by simply dragging and dropping.

• New logo: The application now proudly showcases its very own Whiffle | Wind logo.

2024-07-31

• Increase Parallelism: Simulations now run even faster! We've increased the parallelism from 50 to 128 parallel days, significantly enhancing computational efficiency and performance.

2024-07-19

• Expose Atmospheric Boundary Layer Height: The atmospheric boundary layer height is now exposed for met masts, providing more detailed and accessible atmospheric data.

• MESO Domain Expansion: The MESO domain now dynamically expands based on the LES domain size, improving the accuracy and relevance of mesoscale simulations.

• New video output 🍿: The left side of the video displays a map with the cloud field passing through, offering a visual representation of cloud movement. The right side of the video shows a qualitative representation of wind speed at 100m, providing insights into wind behavior at this altitude.

2024-07-04

• Extend LES domain: Whiffle Wind automatically suggests an LES domain based on your turbine and met mast positions, following Whiffle’s globally tested recipe. However, there may be cases that require manual extension of the LES domain. In the Layout step, simply click the "Extend LES Domain" button to customize the domain by drawing an additional area of interest. A new LES domain will be suggested, based on the geolocations and additional area.

• Automatic Zoom Adjustment: The automatic zoom feature has been refined to activate only under specific conditions: when the first LES domain is drawn, or when a selected location is not currently in view.

• Map Rendering Issue Fixed: Previously, resizing the browser window caused the map to render incorrectly in subsequent steps of the setup wizard. This issue has been resolved. Now, the map is loaded per step in the setup wizard, ensuring that the LES domain, turbines, and met masts are properly centered and zoomed in at each step.

• Update Whiffle LES Model: Whiffle Wind has been updated to use Whiffle LES Model (ASPIRE) 12.9.0.

2024-06-19

• Import turbine specs with WTG and WTP files: You can now upload turbine specifications using .wtg and .wtp files directly into Whiffle Wind. Simply upload the file—no more manual data entry required!

2024-06-11

• Local Solar Midnight: The Whiffle LES model performs optimally when initialized at local solar midnight. Consequently, all simulations will now default to start and end at this time. The output will be provided in UTC+0, meaning any shifts in start and end times are relative to 00:00 UTC, based on the local solar midnight. The Period step in the setup wizard has been updated to reflect this change.

• Domain Dimensions: The map in the simulation setup now includes a legend displaying the dimensions of both the LES and MESO domains in kilometers.

• Long Term Correction Warning: We now provide information on the accuracy of long-term correction in the Period step. Additionally, on the detail page showing the long-term corrected table, a warning is displayed regarding the accuracy when the simulation period is less than one year.

• Added Vertical Wind Speed: We've updated the column headers in both the metmast and turbines outputs. The previous header 'wind-speed' has been changed to 'horizontal-wind-speed' and we've introduced a new variable called 'vertical-wind-speed'.

• Custom Turbine Best Practices: A new documentation page has been created for best practices when specifying a custom turbine. The first item highlights the importance of entering correct turbulence intensity. A link to this documentation is now displayed in the Add Turbine modal for user reference.

• Fixed Link in "Your First Simulation" Message: The message displayed to users when logging in for the first time, which provides information about setting up a first simulation, had an outdated link. This has been fixed.

2024-05-23

• Copy and Edit: With a simple click of the "Copy & Edit" button, you can now start a new simulation setup based on an existing one. This feature simplifies the process of generating secondary runs and greatly eases aerodynamic loss calculations in combination with the thrust toggle.

• Whiffle Wind Python Client: The Whiffle Client is now publicly available 🎉 and can be installed via pip. The Whiffle Client comes with a Python Notebook that allows you to run your LES simulations directly via our Wind API. Furthermore, the Notebook contains a post-processing module as well, which we aim to continuously expand with new use cases like calculating aerodynamic losses, performing a long-term correction and making striking visualizations. Links for both can be found on docs.whiffle.cloud.

• Update ASPIRE: Whiffle Wind has been updated to use ASPIRE 12.5.1. The "Midnight shift" change in ASPIRE 12.5.1 is for now turned off in Whiffle Wind while we work on implementing this feature in the simulation setup wizard.

• Expose Domain Size and Resolution Properties: Domain size and resolution properties in GeoJSON geometries are now exposed on the Wind API. This information will soon be visible in the application, allowing users to understand the size of the LES domain.

• Bug Fix - Phi Values for Turbine Timeseries Output: A bug where phi values for turbine timeseries output were not properly computed has been fixed. Relevant customers have been informed, and data has been corrected.

• Fixed Alignment of Met Mast Heights: Corrected the alignment of met mast heights in the simulation detail space by adjusting the left-side spacing.

2024-05-14

• Thrust checkbox: Users now have the convenience of seamlessly switching between a thrust-free simulation or one with thrust enabled with just a single click in the outputs step of the simulation setup. This feature simplifies the process of generating secondary runs specifically tailored for aerodynamic loss calculations.

• Whiffle Wind Python Client: The Whiffle Wind Python Client has undergone final optimizations and is almost ready for public release. Additionally, accompanying Jupyter notebooks have been prepared to aid users in tasks such as aerodynamic loss computations.

• Maintaining form data on refresh: Saved data now persists even when refreshing the simulation setup or navigating away and using the back button. Our next endeavor involves enabling users to seamlessly resume their work with draft setups.

• Improved warning messages: Enhanced messaging within Whiffle Wind ensures users receive pertinent feedback regarding critical issues, such as missing ERA5 data and domain sizes exceeding simulation limits.

• LES domain loading indicator: During location additions in the layout step, a loading indicator now accompanies the automatic calculation of suggested LES domains. This provides users with real-time feedback on the process.

• Migration to Whiffle Wind API: The integration of the application frontend with the new Whiffle Wind API has been completed. While not immediately perceptible to users, this integration sets the stage for future enhancements.

• Met mast heights: An issue resulting in distorted application layouts due to numerous met mast heights has been resolved across the overview step, simulation listing overview, and analytics pages.

• Team members simulations: A bug prohibiting users from accessing fellow team members' analytics has been rectified.

• API speed improvements: We have implemented the persistence of the estimated number of cells for each simulation in the database. This allows for pricing calculations based on the total number of cells. Moreover, it optimizes API performance by eliminating the need for repetitive elevation requests for domains, which previously slowed down processing.

• Naming of turbines: Implemented a safeguard to prevent the renaming of turbine specifications with an existing name. This resolves the issue where a turbine specification could inadvertently be renamed to match an existing one, resulting in a duplicate name.

• Resolved met mast naming issue: Corrected a bug that caused visualizations on the analytics page to malfunction when met mast names contained underscores.

2024-03-19

• Domain size: We've expanded the maximum supported domain size to 90km x 90km, providing users with more room to maneuver and work on their projects.

• API notebook: We've developed a Jupyter notebook demonstrating how to use the Whiffle Wind Python client for submitting simulations and calculating aerodynamic losses.

• Documentation: We've added a link to Whiffle Wind Docs in the toolbar of Whiffle Wind, making it easier for users to access our documentation.

• Account creation: We've simplified the process of creating trial accounts, making it easier for the sales team to assist users in getting started with Whiffle Wind

2024-03-07

• Increased WRG heights support: We've expanded the number of supported WRG (Wind Resource Grid) heights from 3 to 6 in the output step, providing more comprehensive data for your analysis.

• Extended simulation period: You can now select a simulation period from 1st January 2010 to -10 days, up from the previous limit of -100 days.

• Timeseries plot improvements: We've improved the clarity of time series plots by adding titles to the X axis and resolving overlapping labels on the Y axis.

• Maximum allowed LES domain: Our team has adjusted the maximum allowed LES (Large Eddy Simulation) domain by fine-tuning GPU memory usage calculations, resulting in more accurate predictions and efficient resource utilization.

• Workflow efficiency boost: We've bolstered the stability and resource efficiency of our workflow system by optimizing server connections and implementing automatic retries for failed workflow steps, ensuring smoother operations.

• ASPIRE Image Update: Our latest ASPIRE image update (version 10.13.2) includes critical fixes and corrections, particularly addressing WRG sectors, to enhance overall performance and reliability.

• Canopy: Canopy is now enabled for all Whiffle Wind users.

• CSV column clarity: We've improved user clarity by renaming the column for time in CSV files to "time[UTC]," providing better context and understanding of the data.

2024-02-07

• User Information for each simulation: In our latest release, we introduced team accounts, enabling users to view runs from their colleagues. Now, users can also identify which colleague initiated a specific simulation. On both the simulation overview page and the detail page, we display the user's name in the top right corner.

• Simulation card redesign: We have made slight enhancements to the simulation card on the simulation listing page. The text is now more legible, and the progress bar is more prominent. Additionally, we now display the start date and time when the simulation was submitted.

• Expandable simulation card: The simulation card on the simulation listing page can now be expanded by clicking "Show More". This feature allows users to quickly access additional information about the simulation, such as the simulation period, turbines and met mast used, and the location where the simulation was run.

• Increased margin on LES domain: We've expanded the margin around the turbines relative to their positions, as per the R&D guidelines (doubling the LES domain's windfarm area). This adjustment reduces rough data at the edges originating from the MESO domain and enhances the quality of simulation video output.

• Optimized zipping: Optimized zipping speed during preprocessing tasks, leading to slightly reduced simulation completion times.

2024-01-17

• Team accounts: Users within the same team can now view runs from each other, fostering collaboration and facilitating access to simulations, even when team members are away on holiday. In the upcoming weeks, you’ll also be able to see which user has executed a specific simulation, within the application.

• Maximum one-year simulation: A maximum one-year simulation duration is now enforced to prevent accidental submission of extensive simulations that could consume excessive resources. An informative message is displayed in Whiffle Wind for simulations exceeding one year.

• Contact button: A contact email button, complete with an email template, has been added to the header. This enhancement simplifies the process for users to reach out to Whiffle Support effortlessly.

• Meso domain displayed on map: The map in the simulation setup now includes the meso domain.

• Domain Size GPU Limit: GPU memory consumption now limits domain size based on a relationship provided by Whiffle’s R&D team. This update eliminates GPU out-of-memory errors, allowing domains up to 70.4km x 64km offshore.

• Fixed dates bug: Corrected date display issues on the simulation list page and standardized the presentation of simulation periods throughout the application.

• Aspire update: Upgraded aspire image to version 10.7.0, addressing the last numeric instability errors encountered.

2024-01-11

• Output Heights Enhancement: In the Outputs step of the simulation setup, you can now easily set specific heights for WRG and fields, alongside met mast heights. This enhancement streamlines the process of specifying required heights in the output data. To enhance stability and resource efficiency, we've introduced a limit of 3 heights for WRG and field measurements.

• Fixed day count: An issue with the day count on the simulation setup Period step has been identified and corrected.

• Update aspire to 10.5.1