Shape optimization of tall buildings cross-section: Balancing profit and aeroelastic performance

SummaryShape optimization is an effective tool to improve the aerodynamic performance of tall buildings by introducing minor modifications to the original project. Nevertheless, economic criteria demand efficient cross sections aiming at maximizing the building's profitability. These two contradictory criteria are commonly handled by adopting multiobjective optimization approaches seeking the definition of Pareto fronts. However, the aerodynamic nonlinear features of lowaspectratio cross sections typically adopted in architectural practice can cause windinduced acceleration response surfaces over the considered design domain with multiple local minima that eventually lead to discontinuous Pareto fronts with nonconvex regions. This study delves into this problem and proposes a design framework that effectively combines the reduced basis method with multiobjective optimization techniques to carry out the aerodynamic shape optimization using surrogates trained with CFD simulations. The ability of the optimization strategy to properly define the nonconvex regions of discontinuous Pareto fronts is successfully leveraged by adopting the weighted minmax method.

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