Construction industry professionals confront huge obstacles, particularly when satisfying criteria such as low carbon emissions, renewable energy consumption, and so on. In addition, as an architect, you can be under constant pressure from changing building codes, which can force you to make changes to buildings in the design stage, those under construction, and those completed.

However, the industry undergoes a digital transition. Cloud-based analytical tools such as CFD are aiding in analyzing, modeling, and simulation of designs at each level of the building design process.

The building design process has five stages, according to the RIBA Plan of Work 2020: concept design, spatial coordination, technical design, construction, operation, or in-use.

Suppose you’re an architect, engineer, or designer. In that case, you may use cloud-based simulation to assess a building’s performance, validate the design, and demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements at any point in the design process.

Let’s first define the term “building simulation” before delving into the various stages of the design process. So, what exactly is a simulation of a building? It’s a piece of software that allows you to test and understand how the building’s components will work in real-world scenarios.

Here is a detailed explanation of various stages of building design and how simulation is effectively used in each stage.

Stage One: Concept Design

Providing visual representations of design ideas and massing to your client is the first stage in the building process. Microclimate studies, such as local wind flow, land usage, and topography can be used to determine the best design, orientation, and site features for the project you’re about to build.

You can detect and address environmental issues early in the project to assist your customer in making the necessary time and money savings in the long run—furthermore, this method aids in creating environmentally sustainable structures that adhere to current regulations.

Simulation has the advantage of allowing you to make quick design iterations, validate new design directions, and foster organizational creativity. For example, sophisticated simulation software can assist in simulating different wind tower designs simultaneously, revealing the best form for lowering wind forces significantly.

Stage Two: Spatial Coordination

Spatial coordination is the next step in the building design process. You can present your client with a simulation of a robust wind study at this stage, which can indicate wind loading difficulties.

Surprisingly, this is also the most collaborative portion of the project. Engineers from all departments analyze each aspect of the project, including structural design, building services, sustainability, and cost, allowing them to structure their project planning.

Climate concerns can help protect the safety and thermal comfort of the building’s occupants. If you’re designing a sports stadium, for example, some simulation systems have an integrated meteorological database that aids the software in analyzing wind effects in and around the stadium. For high transit structures, similar approaches can be used to assess designs against sustainability benchmarks.

Stage Three: Technical Design

This step entails a tendering procedure requiring input from professionals from numerous industries, such as those in charge of the building’s glass and HVAC systems. In addition, these specialists may need further refinement of an existing building design process to properly install and configure HVAC systems, glass components, and other components.

Energy and sustainability consultants will analyze the building’s performance and validate it against rating systems such as LEED/BREEAM.

This is where CFD simulation comes in handy, mainly when collaborating on design improvements and quantifying factors like thermal comfort, interior air quality, and external site comfort conditions.

Stage Four: Construction

The physical construction of the building that was planned and developed digitally is the following step. On the other hand, contractors and site managers can benefit significantly from CFD simulation, particularly when analyzing and eliminating safety threats to their workers.

For example, you can use the wind speed of the building site to create rules for your workers and people passing by.

This is especially useful for skyscrapers, where high wind speeds and wind loads are critical in determining the structure’s strength and stability. Other benefits of wind analysis include appropriate installation techniques and available time on site.

In this case, simulation can help discover multiple wind directions promptly, and these simulations can be easily accessed through your web browser.

Stage Five: Operating or In-Use

Even after the construction is completed, you may need to leave room for alterations. For example, after the advent of the pandemic, building owners have had to reconsider their ventilation systems and occupant sitting arrangements to comply with new safety criteria. In addition, if you live in a disaster-prone area, you may need to consider safety measures such as evacuation facilities to evacuate the people safely in the event of a disaster.

CFD can test various HVAC equipment and build a strategy to identify the airflow dynamics in the above instance involving ventilation. CFD can also be used to analyze window placements and window types to meet the goal of proper ventilation. This can be done in a shorter time with more precise findings, allowing engineers and designers to work more efficiently.

Final Thoughts

Suppose you’re a construction industry professional like an architect, engineer, or designer. In that case, the simulation may help you determine numerous exterior and interior aspects like wind speed, airflow dynamics, thermal comforts, and more, allowing you to develop and execute the building plan much more efficiently.

Additional capabilities of simulation programs include integrating local weather variables, allowing you to plan and design the building with climatic concerns. You can also understand the building’s resilience to external factors such as extreme weather conditions, natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, etc.

Additional features such as co-simulation capabilities have made it even more potent when calculating the overall energy performance and comfort.

Moreover, the simulation tools had made it easier to capture more physics when the designers in the past had struggled when they had to model the external and indoor environments separately. Overall, simulation software has revolutionized the building sector, especially when stronger regulations are in place

Mechartes offers industry-leading CFD and FEA simulation analysis services in building and construction, oil, gas and power, data centers, and more. With a professional approach and an engineering attitude, Mechartés focuses on producing realistic simulation results. Get in touch with us today.