Case Study: Newtecnic achieves optimized façade performance and reduced thermal bridging with COMSOL Multiphysics

Newtecnic - Customer Case Study

Newtecnic, a specialist façade engineering firm working on high‑profile projects like the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center, faced the challenge of validating bespoke, doubly curved rainscreen systems and mitigating thermal bridging from stainless steel fixing brackets that penetrate insulation. To ensure energy performance, hygrothermal behavior, and constructability across continually changing designs, Newtecnic needed an integrated simulation workflow. Comsol’s COMSOL Multiphysics software was adopted to address these needs.

Using Comsol, Newtecnic ran 2D and 3D multiphysics simulations (importing geometry from Rhino/AutoCAD and linking with Grasshopper and Revit) to map temperature profiles, compute façade U‑values, and quantify bracket influence across the shell surfaces. The analysis identified areas affected by one bracket (68.3%), two or more brackets (9.3%), and unaffected zones (22.4%), enabled detailed design adjustments, improved energy assessments, and reduced uncertainty and construction contingency costs by allowing contractors and clients to see validated performance outcomes.

Newtecnic

Yasmin Watts

Founder and Current Director