Computational fluid dynamics for urban design: The prospects for greater integration

Abstract

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has always been used in the field of architecture, urban design and urban planning to understand the patterns of wind flow through the built environment. Its analysis is important to evaluate whether the natural ventilation through a site is adequate to mitigate heat and pollutant to achieve better human comfort in dense urban environments. However, given the complex operational requirements, the response to wind flow is not always done early enough to support planning and design. This paper seeks to illustrate how CFD analysis can aid planning and design of urban areas and investigates the workflow requirements, in the hope of making the CFD simulations more accessible to the practices and contribute to design decisions. It also looks at the present technological advancements and future prospects to assess the scenarios where emerging technologies can make CFD simulation more readily available with affordable and even mobile hardware installations.