Introduction to the Numerical Simulation Approaches in Wind Engineering

An introduction is given to the task and problems of calculating the flow past buildings and in particular of simulating the associated turbulence, and the various possible approaches are outlined: direct numerical simulations, large-eddy simulations and calculations using statistical turbulence models. A brief assessment is provided of the different approaches in the light of recent and future computer developments and an overview is given on the turbulence models in use. Numerical solution methods are introduced briefly, with emphasis on the finite-volume method, which is most frequently used for calculating flows past buildings.