A technical review of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications on wind design of tall buildings and structures: Past, present and future

Abstract

Over the past two decades, an upsurge in using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for wind design on tall buildings has been observed. An extensive amount of work has been performed, where validation has been at the forefront of most of these studies. Challenges associated with CFD and different methodologies used in the analysis haven't been well articulated within the scope of tall building design. Also, there is a lack of critical best practice guidelines in using CFD for wind analysis of structures which can be readily adopted by practitioners and researchers alike. To this end, this paper presents a comprehensive technical review of the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) on tall buildings and structures. A thorough discussion of CFD and its concerning design challenges specific to tall building design, such as turbulence modelling, inflow turbulence and domain & mesh configurations, are discussed in detail. Furthermore, a comprehensive literature of CFD studies on tall buildings is presented, covering all important topics from basic bluff body aerodynamics to complex Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) studies. Where applicable, the literature is critically evaluated (impartially) in this paper and compared with supportive arguments from the author's extensive experience. Finally, the manuscript concludes with potential upcoming numerical methods such as the Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to design tall buildings.