Wu WWang BMalkawi AYoon NSehovic ZYan B2025-09-092025-09-092018-12-01Wu W, Wang B, Malkawi A, Yoon N, Sehovic Z, Yan B. (2018). A method toward real-time CFD modeling for natural ventilation. Fluids. 3. 4.https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/73503Natural ventilation is often used as a passive technology to reduce building energy consumption. To leverage the rule-based natural ventilation control to more advanced control at multiple spatial scales, mathematical modeling is needed to calculate the real-time ventilation rate, indoor air temperatures, and velocities at high spatial resolution. This study aims to develop a real-time mathematical modeling framework based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The real-time concept is implemented by using real-time sensor data, e.g., wall surface temperatures as boundary conditions, while data assimilation is employed to implement real-time self-calibration. The proof of concept is demonstrated by a case study using synthetic data. The results show that the modeling framework can adequately predict real-time ventilation rates and indoor air temperatures. The data assimilation method can nudge the simulated air velocities toward the observed values to continuously calibrate the model. The real-time CFD modeling framework will be further tested by the real-time sensor data once building construction is fully completed.(c) 2018 The Author/sCC BY 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/zero energynatural ventilationsensor networkdata assimilationnudgingJournal article10.3390/fluids30401012311-5521journal-article101