Early-stage design support for ice-shell architecture with integrated snow drift simulation tool

The data on snow distribution on roofs can aid in optimizing the weatherability of ice-shell architecture. However, there is currently a lack of technology for predicting snow drift in early-stage design. The study proposes a snow drift simulation method for ice shells, utilizing Butterfly to call the OpenFOAM solver. A snow drift simulation tool based on this method was developed and validated through three case studies. The validation results provide suggestions for mesh accuracy and time steps for typical ice-shell architecture simulation with the tool. Simulation results from the tool are used to analyze the impact of ice-shell architectural specific features (texture, plane, orientation) on weatherability, focusing on the coupling optimization of snow and radiation for typical ice shells. The study demonstrates the tool's effectiveness, simplifying the simulation process and extending its applicability to other cold-region buildings. The feature analysis indicates that the ribbed texture more effectively blocks solar radiation through snow distribution.