Building Life Consultancy, a trading name of Joseph Little Architects, is the Irish Co-Operation Partner of Fraunhofer IBP for development of, and training in, the Wufi® suite of risk assesssment software. We are also the UK and Ireland's leading practitioners of hygrothernal assessment using the WUFI suite of assessment tools.
Wufi® is the name of a suite of remarkable software tools developed by German scientists in the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) since the mid-90s. Wufi ('Wärme Und Feuchte Instationär') means heat and moisture modelling. These tools made possible by advances in building physics knowledge and the advent of cheap fast processors give practitioners the insights of scientists. Used carefully they can transform and deepen your understanding of how walls, roofs and floors, influenced by external conditions, behave.
The tools are Wufi Pro, Wufi 2D and Wufi Plus. The first two allow assessment of the hygrothermal (i.e. heat and moisture) performance of building components exposed to realistic conditions (such as external and internal climate, construction moisture, driving rain, leaks, airtightness of the structure, etc.): 'Pro' models continuous unbridged layers, '2D' can model discontinuities. Assessment can highlight the liklihood of interstitial condensation, mould, rot or rust occuring, as well as varying thermal performance. The impacts of poor workmanship (such as water penetration and air leakage) can also be assessed. Wufi Plus goes further and allows the creation of the internal climate as well, allowing estimation not only of internal humdity and temperature, but also of comfort.
Wufi Pro is one of only two software packages worldwide that have been (2007). The full suite of tools have been exhaustively tested and repeatedly validated and improved by the Institute and others in laboratory and outdoor testing fields.