Wind Loads on an Isolated Building¶

Overview¶

This project analyses the steady-state flow around an isolated building. The aim is to validate the flow around the building against experiments carried out at the Japan Wind Institute [1]. An atmospheric boundary layer profile is implemented at the inflow.

The numerical simulation results of SimScale were compared with the experimental results.

Import validation project into workspace

Geometry¶

The geometry is a rectangular block which was created based on the physical setup.

Fig.1. Physical setup and atmospheric boundary condition [2].

Analysis type and Domain¶

The “Hex-dominant parametric (only CFD)” tool was used to mesh the domain. Different mesh refinements were applied to get a good quality mesh.

Tool Type : OPENFOAM®

Analysis Type : Incompressible Steady-state (Turbulent)

Mesh and Element types :

Table 1: Mesh Metrics
Mesh type Number of volumes Type
Hex-dominant parametric $$1.411 \times 10^7$$ 3D hex

Simulation Setup¶

Fluid:

Air with kinematic viscosity of $$1.5 \times 10^{-5} kg/ms$$ is assigned as the domain fluid. The boundary conditions for the simulation are shown in Table 2.

Boundary Conditions:

Table 2: Boundary Conditions for Isolated Building simulation
Parameter Top, Left and right Inlet Outlet Building and bottom walls
Velocity Slip wall From File Zero Gradient No-Slip wall
Pressure Slip wall Zero Gradient $$0.0\ Pa$$ Zero Gradient
$$k$$ Slip wall Same as Initial value Zero Gradient Wall Functions
omega Slip wall Same as Initial value Zero Gradient Wall Functions

The velocity at inlet is assigned through the file-upload option provided on the platform. The file corresponds to the velocity profile provided by experiments [1].

Results¶

The numerical simulation results of longitudinal velocity at different planes are compared with experimental results provided in study [1].

Fig.2. Comparison of numerical and experimental results of longitudinal velocity [1].

Fig.3. Velocity streamlines imposed on pressure contours.

Disclaimer¶

This offering is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited, producer and distributor of the OpenFOAM software and owner of the OPENFOAM® and OpenCFD® trade marks. OPENFOAM® is a registered trade mark of OpenCFD Limited, producer and distributor of the OpenFOAM software.