Conceptual design of buildings subjected to wind load by using topology optimization

The latest developments in topology optimization are integrated with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for the conceptual design of building structures. The wind load on a building is simulated using CFD, and the structural response of the building is obtained from finite element analysis under the wind load obtained. Multiple wind directions are simulated within a single fluid domain by simply expanding the simulation domain. The bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) algorithm with a scheme of material interpolation is extended for an automatic building topology optimization considering multiple wind loading cases. The proposed approach is demonstrated by a series of examples of optimum topology design of perimeter bracing systems of high-rise building structures.