Environmental Studies
Urban wind flow and pollutant dispersion are key areas where CFD simulations provide valuable insights for environmental studies. By simulating fluid flows, CFD helps understand how building layouts influence airflow, pedestrian comfort, and the spread of pollutants. These simulations are crucial for urban planning, optimizing building aerodynamics, and designing safer, more efficient urban environments.
- Wind pedestrian comfort
- Urban microclimate analysis
- Pollutant dispersion
- Wind driven rain
- Lawson criteria / NEN 8100
- Wind loads on structures
- Wind farm optimization
- Urban heat island
- High-rise assessment
CFD simulations to model the effects of wind
CFD simulations are invaluable for modeling the effects of wind, offering insights into aerodynamic performance, structural stability, and environmental impact of structures. In urban planning, they assess wind interactions with buildings and public spaces to improve pedestrian comfort and air quality. For structural design, CFD predicts wind loads and vortex shedding to enhance safety and stability in tall buildings and bridges. In renewable energy, these simulations optimize wind turbine placement and blade design, maximizing energy yield. Overall, CFD enables the precise analysis of wind effects across diverse applications, driving safer and more efficient designs.
Pedestrian wind comfort
CFD is used in building physics to study pedestrian wind comfort by simulating airflow around structures. It identifies areas with high wind speeds or turbulence that affect pedestrian safety and comfort. An example of wind climate assessment near the TU Delft campus shows how the well-known case of EWI building can cause high wind speeds due to local airflow acceleration, as illustrated in the image.
Wind loads on structures
CFD simulation of wind loads evaluates how wind forces impact structures, taking into account factors like wind speed, building shape, and surroundings. This analysis helps optimize building designs for stability and safety, informing engineering decisions to reduce wind-induced vibrations and potential structural risks.
Why work with us on Environmental Studies
We have extensive experience with simulations related to environmental studies. We work with clients from across multiple countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, UK and Ireland. We have a broad experience in assessing pedestrian wind comfort, wind loads and the urban microclimate. Additionally, we have extensive knowhow of wind engineering and are involved in the steering committee for the new Duch standard for pedestrian wind comfort analaysis.