TY - JOUR
T1 - The influence of building geometry on street canyon air flow
T2 - Validation of large eddy simulations against wind tunnel experiments
AU - Llaguno-Munitxa, Maider
AU - Bou-Zeid, Elie R.
AU - Hultmark, Marcus Nils
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) via the Cooperative Institute for Climate Science (CICS) of Princeton University and the Chair of Structural Design of the Institute of Technology and Architecture, ETH Zurich for their financial support. The help of Tristen Hohman, Dr. Anand Ashok, Mike Vocaturo and Joe Vocaturo was instrumental in the success of the wind tunnel experiments. Elie Bou-Zeid is supported by the US National Science Foundation's Sustainability Research Network Cooperative Agreement 1444758.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - This study investigates the effect of roof and façade geometry on the mean wind flow and turbulence in street canyons, as well as the ability of numerical simulation techniques in capturing the flow features. Numerical experiments, using the large eddy simulation FLUENT code, have been conducted under neutral stability conditions to test 5 building geometries: i) flat roof, ii) pitched roof, iii) round roof, iv) terraced building and v) building with balconies. Wind tunnel experiments were also conducted for the first three geometries. The simulation and experimental setups were closely matched and both featured configurations consisting of seven building arrays. The results from the physical and numerical experiments concur that (i) in-canyon vortex dynamics and over-canopy flow conditions, are strongly dependent on the geometric features of the buildings, and (ii) pitched and round roof geometries increase in-canyon mean and turbulent velocities, as well as the depth of the shear layer. The findings provide novel insight on the sensitivity of the flow and turbulence fields, as well as the simulation quality, to urban topography, inflow conditions, and the Reynolds number. They also underline the influence on the flow of small-scale features such as balconies, which are often ignored in prior literature.
AB - This study investigates the effect of roof and façade geometry on the mean wind flow and turbulence in street canyons, as well as the ability of numerical simulation techniques in capturing the flow features. Numerical experiments, using the large eddy simulation FLUENT code, have been conducted under neutral stability conditions to test 5 building geometries: i) flat roof, ii) pitched roof, iii) round roof, iv) terraced building and v) building with balconies. Wind tunnel experiments were also conducted for the first three geometries. The simulation and experimental setups were closely matched and both featured configurations consisting of seven building arrays. The results from the physical and numerical experiments concur that (i) in-canyon vortex dynamics and over-canopy flow conditions, are strongly dependent on the geometric features of the buildings, and (ii) pitched and round roof geometries increase in-canyon mean and turbulent velocities, as well as the depth of the shear layer. The findings provide novel insight on the sensitivity of the flow and turbulence fields, as well as the simulation quality, to urban topography, inflow conditions, and the Reynolds number. They also underline the influence on the flow of small-scale features such as balconies, which are often ignored in prior literature.
KW - Building geometry
KW - Large Eddy simulations
KW - Street canyon design
KW - Urban ventilation
KW - Wind tunnel experiments
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jweia.2017.03.007
DO - 10.1016/j.jweia.2017.03.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85016261477
SN - 0167-6105
VL - 165
SP - 115
EP - 130
JO - Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics
JF - Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics
ER -