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Unsteady RANS simulation of wind flow around a building shape obstacle

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An Erratum to this article was published on 07 August 2021

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Abstract

This work aims to find the origin and connection of the surface, near-wake, and far-wake structures in the flow encompassing a high-rise building for a high Reynolds number. The origin and interconnection of the stream-wise tip vortices, with the other components of the wake, is analysed in this study for the current scenario. The Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (URANS) together with the realizable k-ϵ turbulence model have been used in this investigation to study the turbulent wake flow following a ground-surface-attached square shape building. A moderately big obstacle aspect ratio of 4, a Reynolds number of 12,000, and a thin evolving boundary layer thickness have been used in the flow modeling. The designed flow addresses the reversed-flows at the outlet during computation to improve the accuracy of the realizable k-ϵ model. The Reynolds stress components are retrieved using the Boussinesq approach. The wake’s principal compositions, including span-wise-side eddies and area of high stream-wise vorticity in the uppermost portion of the wake, are illustrated by both three-dimensional (3D) representations and planner projections of the mean flow distributions. A braided vortex formation, composed of asymmetric hairpin vortexes, is witnessed in the far-wake area. The association of the near-wake vortex structures with the far-wake and near-wall flow, which is associated with the flow strengths, is also discussed. In this investigation, few areas of large stream-wise vorticity magnitude, like tip vortexes, are correlated to the 3D curving of the fluid motion, and tip vortices did not continuously reach to the free end part of the building. The 3D fluid motion interpretation, which combined several measurements of the flow distribution encompassing the cylinder, shows that the time-averaged near-wake structures are formed of two segments of distinct source and section of dominance. Furthermore, addressing reversed-flow during computation shows notable improvement in the results.

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Abbreviations

a :

speed of sound

C p :

pressure coefficient

d :

building’s width

g i :

element of the gravitational vector in i-th direction

G k :

generation of turbulence kinetic energy

G b :

production of turbulence kinetic energy due to buoyancy

h :

height of the building

M t :

turbulent Mach number

Pr t :

turbulent Prandtl number for energy

Re :

Reynolds number

S :

modulus of the mean rate-of-strain tensor

t :

time

u :

stream-wise velocity

U :

velocity magnitude

U ∞ :

free stream velocity

∇u :

Swirling Strength Criterion (SSC)

v :

vertical velocity

w :

span-wise velocity

x :

length in x-direction

y :

length in y-direction

Y M :

role of the variable dilatation in compressible turbulence to the in-general rate

z :

length in z-direction

δ :

boundary layer thickness

μ :

eddy viscosity

ν :

fluid viscosity

σ k :

turbulent Pr for k

σ ϵ :

turbulent Pr for ϵ

ω :

vorticity

ω k :

angular velocity

Ωij :

rate-of-rotation tensor

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Acknowledgements

The first three authors acknowledge the Grant for Advanced Research in Education (GARE), Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information Statistics (BANBEIS), Ministry of Education, Bangladesh, for providing the financial support for this research gratefully (No. MS20191054). This work has also been funded by the Faculty Research Grant (CTRG19/SEPS/9 CTRG19/SEPS/15), North South University (NSU), Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics & Physics, North South University, Dhaka, 1229, Bangladesh

    Sheikh Hassan, Md. Mamun Molla & Preetom Nag

  2. Department of Mathematics, Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur, 1708, Bangladesh

    Nasrin Akhter

  3. School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Amirul Khan

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  1. Sheikh Hassan
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  2. Md. Mamun Molla
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Correspondence to Md. Mamun Molla.

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Hassan, S., Molla, M.M., Nag, P. et al. Unsteady RANS simulation of wind flow around a building shape obstacle. Build. Simul. 15, 291–312 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-021-0785-8

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