Special Issue: Applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics to the Built Environment

With ever-increasing computational power and the capability of numerical methods, it is now possible to accurately simulate flow conditions in a virtual environment. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an advanced modeling technique that solves partial differential equations in continuum mechanics by using numerical techniques. The equations governing fluid motion are based on the fundamental physical principles of the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy.

CFD has been successfully applied in many areas of fluid mechanics, including heat and mass transfer, chemical reactions and combustion, the aerodynamics of cars and aircrafts, and pumps as well as turbines. Whiles its use is commonplace in the automotive and aerospace industries, its application in civil engineering contexts is much more novel. Potential applications include wind modeling and the dynamics responses of structures, ventilation fire, smoke flow and visibility, the dispersion of pollutants and effluents, and heat transfer in buildings. Traditionally, the interaction of these phenomena has been carried out experimentally, using scaled models and short calculations.

This Special Issue aimed to collect and present research on applications of CFD to the built environment.

A total of six papers (five research papers and one review paper) in various fields of civil engineering, including wind effects on bridges, wind energy harvesting, parametric design, façade design, thermal loads in dwellings, and the integration of CFD with BIM, are presented in this Special Issue.

Yao et al. [1] investigated the cold alleys between buildings as an energy source for passive cooling and ventilation, and their results indicated that significant reductions in annual cooling loads could be achieved. Lee et al. [2] proposed a five-step process of optimizing CFD modeling through integration with building information modeling (BIM), which has the potential to support the mainstreaming of CFD modeling in civil engineering consulting. McGuill [3] conducts a parametric study on wind pressure distributions on a façade element by using CFD modeling. Their results indicate that optimal façade design is based on placing equal importance on minimizing the force along a fin’s length and the moment acting at the fin–bracket connection. Kabosova et al. [4] investigated three complex architectural shapes in a data-driven wind-orientated case study on Stockholm. Their results highlight the importance of considering the wind environment in the early design stages of an architect’s work. Hemida et al. [5] investigate the flow pattern above the roof of a high-rise building by analyzing velocity and pressure measurements, including four wind directions and two different roof shapes. Zhang et al. [6] present a comparative review of wind tunnel tests and CFD modeling in the assessment of the wind–bridge issues of flutter, vortex-induced vibrations, and rain–wind-induced vibrations.