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Numerical Model Inter-comparison for Wind Flow and Turbulence Around Single-Block Buildings

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Abstract

Wind flow and turbulence within the urban canopy layer can influence the heating and ventilation of buildings, affecting the health and comfort of pedestrians, commuters and building occupants. In addition, the predictive capability of pollutant dispersion models is heavily dependent on wind flow models. For that reason, well-validated microscale models are needed for the simulation of wind fields within built-up urban microenvironments. To address this need, an inter-comparison study of several such models was carried out within the European research network ATREUS. This work was conducted as part of an evaluation study for microscale numerical models, so they could be further implemented to provide reliable wind fields for building energy simulation and pollutant dispersion codes. Four computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models (CHENSI, MIMO, VADIS and FLUENT) were applied to reduced-scale single-block buildings, for which quality-assured and fully documented experimental data were obtained. Simulated wind and turbulence fields around two surface-mounted cubes of different dimensions and wall roughness were compared against experimental data produced in the wind tunnels of the Meteorological Institute of Hamburg University under different inflow and boundary conditions. The models reproduced reasonably well the general flow patterns around the single-block buildings, although over-predictions of the turbulent kinetic energy were observed near stagnation points in the upwind impingement region. Certain discrepancies between the CFD models were also identified and interpreted. Finally, some general recommendations for CFD model evaluation and use in environmental applications are presented.

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Acknowledgements

This study was carried out within the framework of the ATREUS research network operated under the European Commission Training and Mobility of Researchers Programme (Project Reference: HPRN-CT-2002-00207). We would like to thank all researchers within ATREUS for their support and collaboration. Complete computer support was given to the French team (ECN) by the Scientific Council of Institut de Développement et de Recherche pour l’Informatique Scientifique (IDRIS), Orsay, France. Dr Rex Britter acknowledges the support of the Singapore National Research Foundation through the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CESAM, Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Sotiris Vardoulakis, Mark Weeks & Carlos Borrego

  2. Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, BP 92101, 44321, Nantes Cedex 3, France

    Reneta Dimitrova & Jean-François Sini

  3. Meteorological Institute, University of Hamburg, Bundesstrasse 55, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Kate Richards & Michael Schatzmann

  4. Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, UK

    David Hamlyn

  5. Senseable City Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Rex Britter

  6. Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Giorgio Camilleri & Nicolas Moussiopoulos

  7. Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Health Protection Agency, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 0RQ, UK

    Sotiris Vardoulakis

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  1. Sotiris Vardoulakis
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  2. Reneta Dimitrova
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  3. Kate Richards
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  4. David Hamlyn
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  8. Rex Britter
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  9. Carlos Borrego
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Correspondence to Sotiris Vardoulakis.

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Vardoulakis, S., Dimitrova, R., Richards, K. et al. Numerical Model Inter-comparison for Wind Flow and Turbulence Around Single-Block Buildings. Environ Model Assess 16, 169–181 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-010-9236-0

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