Prospect of LES for predicting wind loads and responses of tall buildings: A validation study

Wind load evaluation on buildings using large-eddy simulation (LES) poses several critical challenges. The most notable ones include accurately reproducing the approaching atmospheric boundary layer flow conditions and modeling massively separated flows around buildings. This study investigates the capability of LES for predicting cladding and overall loads on a tall building by addressing these key challenges. The results from LES are systematically validated against boundary layer wind tunnel measurements. The validation process unfolds in three key stages. Firstly, the approaching wind profiles were reproduced in LES by integrating a recently developed synthetic inflow turbulence generator with an implicit ground roughness modeling technique. Then, the statistics of the cladding and global loads were compared with the experiment for representative wind directions. Finally, the performance of the LES for predicting wind-induced response is examined, assuming typical structural properties for the building. Overall, the results obtained from each validation step showed encouraging agreement with the experimental measurement. In light of the findings from the current study, it is evident that LES is progressively realizing its potential to be a practical wind load evaluation tool. Selected simulation cases used in this study are available at https://github.com/abiyfantaye/windLoadLES.