Integrating LiDAR, Photogrammetry, and Computational Fluid Dynamics for Wind Flow Simulations Around Existing Buildings

Integrating LiDAR and photogrammetry offers significant potential for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the 3D models of existing structures, which are essential for several applications in the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. This study has two primary objectives: the first is to demonstrate how LiDAR and photogrammetry complement each other, through the balance of LiDAR’s structural accuracy with photogrammetry’s rich texture data; the second is to validate the quality of the resulting mesh by using it for the CFD simulation of wind flow around a case study building. The integration method, though simple, is optimized to ensure high-quality point cloud registration, minimizing data quality impacts. To capitalize on the advantages of both manual and full point-cloud-based modeling methods, the study proposes a new hybrid approach. In the hybrid approach, the large-scale and simplified parts of the geometry are modeled manually, while the complex and detailed parts are reconstructed using high-resolution point cloud data from LiDAR and photogrammetry. Additionally, a novel region of constraints method (ROCM) is introduced to streamline wind flow simulations across varying scenarios without the need for multiple meshes. The results indicate that the integrated approach was able to capture the complete and detailed geometry of the case study building, including the complex window extrusions. The CFD simulations revealed differences in the wind flow patterns and pressure distributions when compared across different geometry modeling approaches. It was found that the hybrid approach is the best and balances efficiency, accuracy, and computational cost.