Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach for Wind Analysis of Highrise Buildings

Abstract

Analysis and design of high-rise buildings for lateral load such as wind load and earthquake are the major issues which are playing significant role in recent decades. This paper describes a recent application of the computational fluid dynamics technique for wind analysis. Conventional wind analysis suggests wind tunnel experiment for arriving at the wind forces for a given structural form. As a case study a regular 38-story high-rise building (Jamieson place, Calgary Canada1) made of concrete with shear wall, built in downtown Calgary 2010 is selected. It is assumed that the building is located in highly seismic area. The design objective was to develop most cost-effective structural system while meeting building functionality goals and adhering to code requirement. The main structural design issues considered in this building are reviewed: Static analysis, Dynamic Analysis, Wind Analysis and Stability Analysis. Initial static and dynamic analysis is conducted in SAP and later wind analysis is conducted in Ansys as opposed to wind tunnel experiments. The building model is modeled in Ansys workbench and then the mesh file is imported to Ansys CFX for CFD simulation and analysis. After CFD analysis the wind forces on the building model are extracted in Ansys CFX-Post and imported to the structural model in SAP 2000 for the structural analysis.