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Latest Wirth Research CFD project announced as a finalist for global architectural award

Latest Wirth Research CFD project announced as a finalist for global architectural award

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) nominated Wirth Research as a finalist for its Innovation award. Presented in Chicago later this year, the CTBUH award recognizes breakthroughs in design or construction that take the design process of tall buildings to a new level. Through the application of high-resolution computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Wirth Research has become a world leader in the analysis of wind loads for the structural design of tall buildings.

Compared to the conventional method of analysis through scale model testing in wind tunnels, hi-resolution CFD has a significant benefit in accurately predicting the wind loads on a building whilst also allowing architects and engineers to visualize wind flow structures at a level of detail not previously available. This enhanced level of accuracy and precision coupled with advanced visualization techniques provides deeper insights into what is causing any given flow structure, and therefore provides a significant step forward in understanding how to efficiently minimize the wind loads on some of the world’s tallest buildings.

High-resolution CFD has the capability to predict and solve any potential wind related issues with a proposed building in a way that can be better integrated into the design process from the outset, rather than applied as a costly mitigation later in the process.

“I am immensely proud that the pioneering work of our aerodynamicists and fluid dynamicists has been recognized by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat,” said Nick Wirth, President of Wirth Research. “The Wirth Research team has taken our advanced motor sport CFD capability and applied it in ways that have simply never been done before in architectural design and construction.

“Our CFD work on tall buildings and wind flow has been developed with invaluable guidance from colleagues at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and I would particularly like to thank William F Baker for his personal involvement in the process and for helping us to achieve our truly ground-breaking results.”