Selecting Vegetation Using Building CFD Wind-Field Simulation Analysis｜AcuSolve

【 Background 】

       Greenery is usually planted around buildings to beautify the surroundings, and the choice of plants is closely related to the surrounding environment. After the ambient wind passes around the building, its wind speed and direction are altered by the building, so by the time the wind reaches the planting areas, its speed and direction often differ from the original ambient wind. If visually pleasing but wind-sensitive plants are placed in high-wind zones, they can be blown crooked within just a few months, losing their intended aesthetic effect.
       At the building planning and design stage, the owner had already considered the influence of the wind field on the landscaping, and therefore commissioned 瑞其 to perform a wind-field analysis around the building. Based on wind-speed and wind-direction results for different seasons and heights, they could evaluate which plants should be used in each area and further optimize and adjust the current planting layout.

【 Results 】

       In this project, Altair SimLab was used as the pre-processor for modeling, and AcuSolve as the flow solver to analyze the wind field of ambient airflow around the building, providing wind speed and direction at different heights in the planting zones around the building under various seasonal wind directions. With this data, the owner could adjust the planting layout accordingly.

CFD wind-speed vector plot of the airflow in the planting areas

【 Technical Features 】

• SimLab as the pre-processor for modeling can generate high-precision body-fitted meshes and obtain highly realistic building geometry, so the airflow behavior around the building closely matches real conditions.

• Three-dimensional airflow simulation makes it possible to obtain the wind-field structure at different heights.

Further reading: Building wind-field analysis｜CFD analysis

【 Extended Applications 】

       In addition to this application, CFD building wind-field simulations have also been used in other projects to evaluate the wind-shielding effect of landscaping. For low-rise buildings, tree canopies are used to reduce wind speed on the 2nd–4th floors, and planting is also used at public-space entrances for wind protection. The semi-permeable nature of tree canopies provides both wind shielding and ventilation, while semi-porous media in CFD can be used to mimic the semi-permeable behavior of foliage, enabling the owner to achieve the desired airflow distribution.