Wind-induced vibrations of tall buildings must be carefully assessed in order to avoid reaching acceleration values that might negatively affect the occupants’ comfort and the serviceability of the structure. The along-wind response depends on the turbulent buffeting excitation, which is affected by the geometry and height of the building.
The multiobjective shape optimization of the cross-section of tall buildings is addressed in this work by applying the reduced basis method, which permits important geometrical changes with a small number of design variables. Two contradictory requirements are considered in the optimization problem: the along-wind response and the relative profitability of real estate development. The gross internal volume of the candidate building designs is constant, introducing additional stories that compensate for smaller floor areas. CFD simulations are conducted to obtain the aerodynamic response of a set of samples over the design domain. These numerical data enable the training of a surrogate model that is used to obtain the aerodynamic characteristics required in the assessment of the along-wind response using the Eurocode.
The weighted Min-Max method is applied, which allows the identification of the complete set of Pareto optima, including nonconvex regions in the criterion space. For the considered application case the Pareto front is discontinuous, which is quite infrequent in engineering design, and highlights the intrinsic complexity in wind design of structures. Results show that the along-wind response may be decreased by up to 45%, while the 10- year profitability is only reduced by 20%. Also, the subset of Pareto optima fulfilling the requirements in ISO 6897:1984 is identified.
Journal publications
Nieto F, Cid Montoya M, Hernández S (2022). Shape optimization of tall buildings cross-section: Balancing profit and aeroelastic performance. The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings.
DOI: 10.1002/tal.1982 [Open Access]
Cid Montoya M, Nieto F, and Hernández S (2021). Multi-objective shape optimization of tall buildings considering profitability and multidirectional wind-induced accelerations using CFD, surrogates and the reduced basis approach. Wind and Structures, An International Journal, 32 (4): 355-369.
DOI: 10.12989/was.2021.32.4.355
Conferences
Nieto F, Cid Montoya M, Hernández S (2020) “Numerical optimization of the corner shape of the cross-section of tall buildings considering profitability and along-wind response” ACEM20-AWAS20, 2020 Int. Conf. on Advances in Wind and Structures. Aug 27, Seoul, Korea. (Online presentation because of COVID).
Nieto F, Cid Montoya M, Hernández S (2020) “Corner shape optimization of the cross-section of tall buildings considering profitability and along-wind response” BBAA IX 9th Int. Colloquium on Bluff Body Aerodynamics and Applications, U. of Birmingham, UK, July 20-23, 2020. (Accepted, conference canceled because of COVID)
Nieto F, Hernández S, Cid Montoya M (2020) “Innovation in high-rise buildings: Multidisciplinary approach for the cross-section shape optimization” ASCE Structures Congress 2020, session: Novel Building and Bridge Design with Structural Optimization, St. Louis, Missouri, April 5-8, 2020. (Accepted, conference canceled because of COVID)
Nieto F, Cid Montoya M, Hernández S (2019) “Shape optimization of tall buildings considering wind directionality: surrogate-based reduced basis approach” The 15th Int. Conference on Wind Eng. 2019, September 1-6, Beijing, China.
Nieto F, Hernández S, Cid Montoya M (2018) “Reduced basis approach for the shape optimization of the cross-section of tall buildings” The 7th Int. Symposium on Computational Wind Eng. 2018. June 18-22, Seoul, Korea.
Nieto F, Hernández S, Cid Montoya M (2018) “Design of experiments: Impact in surrogate-based aerodynamic shape optimization of high-rise buildings” WES2018: The 13th UK Wind Engineering Society Conference 2018. September 3-4, 2018, Leeds, United Kingdom.