Pedestrian-level wind conditions around buildings: Review of wind-tunnel and CFD techniques and their accuracy for wind comfort assessment

Abstract Information on pedestrian-level wind (PLW) speed for wind comfort assessment can be obtained by wind-tunnel measurements or Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Wind-tunnel measurements for PLW are routinely performed with low-cost techniques such as hot-wire or hot-film anemometers, Irwin probes or sand erosion, while Laser-Doppler Anemometry (LDA) and Particle-Image Velocimetry (PIV) are less often used because they are more expensive. CFD simulations are routinely performed by the relatively low-cost steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach. Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) is less often used because of its larger complexity and cost. This paper reviews wind-tunnel and CFD techniques to determine PLW speeds expressed generally in terms of amplification factors defined as the ratio of local mean wind speed to mean wind speed at the same position without buildings present. Some comparative studies systematically indicate that the low-cost wind-tunnel techniques and steady RANS simulations can provide accurate results (∼10%) at high amplification factors (>1) while their accuracy can deteriorate at lower amplification factors (

[1]  S. Murakami,et al.  COMPARISON OF VARIOUS TURBULENCE MODELS APPLIED TO A BLUFF BODY , 1993 .

[2]  H Hamid Montazeri,et al.  CFD evaluation of new second-skin facade concept for wind comfort on building balconies : case-study for the Park Tower in Antwerp , 2013 .

[3]  Yoshihide Tominaga,et al.  Comparison of various k-ε models and DSM applied to flow around a high-rise building - report on AIJ cooperative project for CFD prediction of wind environment - , 2002 .

[4]  F. Livesey,et al.  Enhanced scour tests to evaluate pedestrian level winds , 1992 .

[5]  R. Dye,et al.  Comparison of full-scale and wind-tunnel model measurements of ground winds around a tower building , 1980 .

[6]  A. Ferreiraa,et al.  Prediction of building interference effects on pedestrian level comfort , 2002 .

[7]  M. Dianat,et al.  Pulsed wire velocity anemometry near walls , 1990 .

[8]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Wind environmental conditions around tall buildings with chamfered corners , 1985 .

[9]  Johannes Janicka,et al.  Assessment Measures for Engineering LES Applications , 2009 .

[10]  Michael Schatzmann,et al.  Issues with validation of urban flow and dispersion CFD models , 2011 .

[11]  Cheng-Hsin Chang,et al.  Computational Fluid Dynamics and Physical Model Comparisons of Wind Loads and Pedestrian Comfort Around a High Rise Building , 2005 .

[12]  I. P. Castro,et al.  Pulsed-wire anemometry , 1992 .

[13]  Peter A. Irwin,et al.  A comprehensive assessment of pedestrian comfort including thermal effects , 1998 .

[14]  W. J. Beranek,et al.  Visual techniques for the determination of wind environment , 1979 .

[15]  N. Sudhakaran,et al.  Best practice guidelines: fetal surgery. , 2012, Early human development.

[16]  Paul G. Tucker,et al.  Introduction to grid and mesh generation for CFD , 2001 .

[17]  Ian P. Castro,et al.  A pulsed-wire technique for velocity measurements in highly turbulent flows , 1971, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[18]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Pedestrian Level Winds and Outdoor Human Comfort , 2006 .

[19]  Jan Carmeliet,et al.  Modification of pedestrian wind comfort in the Silvertop Tower passages by an automatic control system , 2004 .

[20]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Further experiments on Irwin's surface wind sensor , 1994 .

[21]  Yasushi Uematsu,et al.  Observation of the flow around rough-walled two-dimensional circular cylinders using infrared thermography , 1990 .

[22]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  A numerical study on the existence of the Venturi-effect in passages between perpendicular buildings , 2008 .

[23]  Akashi Mochida,et al.  Prediction of wind environment and thermal comfort at pedestrian level in urban area , 2006 .

[24]  T. Trucano,et al.  Verification, Validation, and Predictive Capability in Computational Engineering and Physics , 2004 .

[25]  N. Isyumov,et al.  Studies of the pedestrian level wind environment at the boundary layer wind tunnel laboratory of the University of Western Ontario , 1978 .

[26]  K. M. Lam,et al.  Wind environment around the base of a tall building with a permeable intermediate floor , 1992 .

[27]  A. D. Penwarden,et al.  Wind environment around buildings , 1975 .

[28]  D. Wilcox.  Turbulence modeling for CFD , 1993 .

[29]  Hitoshi Yamada.  What's Next for New JAWE? , 2011 .

[30]  Yasushi Uematsu,et al.  Application of infrared thermography and a knowledge-based system to the evaluation of the pedestrian-level wind environment around buildings , 1997 .

[31]  N. Isyumov,et al.  Comparison of full-scale and wind tunnel wind speed measurements in the commerce court plaza , 1975 .

[32]  Eizo Maruta,et al.  Study on wind environmental problems caused around buildings in Japan , 1979 .

[33]  Anthony J. Jakeman,et al.  Ten iterative steps in development and evaluation of environmental models , 2006, Environ. Model. Softw..

[34]  C. Williams,et al.  Determination of the pedestrian wind environment in the city of Ottawa using wind tunnel and field measurements , 1992 .

[35]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Wind environmental conditions in passages between two long narrow perpendicular buildings , 2008 .

[36]  P. Richards,et al.  Appropriate boundary conditions for computational wind engineering models using the k-ε turbulence model , 1993 .

[37]  Bje Bert Blocken,et al.  Pedestrian wind comfort around a large football stadium in an urban environment: CFD simulation, validation and application of the new Dutch wind nuisance standard , 2009 .

[38]  David P. Hamilton,et al.  Ten steps applied to development and evaluation of process-based biogeochemical models of estuaries , 2008, Environ. Model. Softw..

[39]  Shuzo Murakami.  Computational wind engineering , 1990 .

[40]  Nicolas G. Wright,et al.  On the use of the k–ε model in commercial CFD software to model the neutral atmospheric boundary layer , 2007 .

[41]  Michael Schatzmann,et al.  MODEL EVALUATION GUIDANCE AND PROTOCOL DOCUMENT , 2007 .

[42]  T. V. Lawson,et al.  The widn content of the built environment , 1978 .

[43]  Moshe Y. Vardi,et al.  Verification , 1917, Handbook of Automata Theory.

[44]  Jean-Marie Buchlin,et al.  Wind engineering in the integrated design of princess Elisabeth Antarctic base , 2012 .

[45]  Yoshihiko Hayashi,et al.  Examining the κ-ϵ model by means of a wind tunnel test and large-eddy simulation of the turbulence structure around a cube , 1990 .

[46]  Ove Strindehag,et al.  An investigation of a sonic flowmeter , 1991 .

[47]  P. Roache.  Perspective: A Method for Uniform Reporting of Grid Refinement Studies , 1994 .

[48]  Shuzo Murakami,et al.  Amplification of wind speed at ground level due to construction of high-rise building in urban area , 1979 .

[49]  K. Winter.  An outline of the techniques available for the measurement of skin friction in turbulent boundary layers , 1979 .

[50]  Peter Richards,et al.  Pedestrian level wind speeds in downtown Auckland , 2002 .

[51]  A. Zhang,et al.  Numerical simulation of the wind field around different building arrangements , 2005 .

[52]  L. S. Cochran,et al.  Wind tunnel studies for the aerodynamic shape for Sydney Australia , 1990 .

[53]  Michael Lehning,et al.  Experimental assessment of Owen's second hypothesis on surface shear stress induced by a fluid during sediment saltation , 2014 .

[54]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Boundary treatment for the computation of three-dimensional wind flow conditions around a building , 1990 .

[55]  Jianming He,et al.  Evaluation of pedestrian winds in urban area by numerical approach , 1999 .

[56]  Alessandro Parente,et al.  Improved k–ε model and wall function formulation for the RANS simulation of ABL flows , 2011 .

[57]  V. Dorer,et al.  Urban Physics: Effect of the micro-climate on comfort, health and energy demand , 2012 .

[58]  S. Orszag,et al.  Renormalization group analysis of turbulence. I. Basic theory , 1986, Physical review letters.

[59]  Florian R. Menter,et al.  CFD Best Practice Guidelines for CFD Code Validation for Reactor- Safety Applications , 2002 .

[60]  Domingos Xavier Viegas,et al.  On the use of Irwin and Preston wall shear stress probes in turbulent incompressible flows with pressure gradients , 1996 .

[61]  J. W. Verkaik.  On Wind and Roughness over Land , 2006 .

[62]  I P Castro,et al.  NUMERICAL WIND ENGINEERING: THE WAY AHEAD ? , 1999 .

[63]  Bert Blocken,et al.  CFD simulation for pedestrian wind comfort and wind safety in urban areas: General decision framework and case study for the Eindhoven University campus , 2012, Environ. Model. Softw..

[64]  Jan Carmeliet,et al.  WITHDRAWN: CFD evaluation of wind speed conditions in passages between parallel buildings – effect of wall-function roughness modifications for the atmospheric boundary layer flow , 2007 .

[65]  C. Gorlé,et al.  Quantifying inflow uncertainties for CFD simulations of the flow in downtown Oklahoma City , 2014 .

[66]  Leslie K. Norford,et al.  A modelling-mapping approach for fine-scale assessment of pedestrian-level wind in high-density cities , 2016 .

[67]  Joel H. Ferziger,et al.  Computational methods for fluid dynamics , 1996 .

[68]  Bje Bert Blocken,et al.  Quality assessment of Large-Eddy Simulation of wind flow around a high-rise building : validation and solution verification , 2013 .

[69]  Shuzo Murakami,et al.  Overview of turbulence models applied in CWE–1997 , 1998 .

[70]  Bert Blocken,et al.  CFD evaluation of wind speed conditions in passages between parallel buildings : effect of wall-function roughness modifications for the atmospheric boundary layer flow , 2007 .

[71]  T. Kármán.  Mechanical similitude and turbulence , 1931 .

[72]  Michael Schatzmann,et al.  Some remarks on the validation of small-scale dispersion models with field and laboratory data , 1997 .

[73]  A. R. Janeiro Borges,et al.  AN EROSION TECHNIQUE FOR ASSESSING GROUND LEVEL WINDS , 1980 .

[74]  S. Orszag,et al.  Renormalization group analysis of turbulence. I. Basic theory , 1986 .

[75]  Holger Koss,et al.  On differences and similarities of applied wind comfort criteria , 2006 .

[76]  Fergus R. Fricke,et al.  An anemometer for scale model environmental wind measurements , 1975 .

[77]  J. Fung,et al.  Sensitivity of inflow boundary conditions on downstream wind and turbulence profiles through building obstacles using a CFD approach , 2013 .

[78]  Yoshihide Tominaga,et al.  CFD simulation of micro-scale pollutant dispersion in the built environment , 2013 .

[79]  Nicole Metje,et al.  Pedestrian comfort using clothing values and body temperatures , 2008 .

[80]  Y. Tominaga.  Flow around a high-rise building using steady and unsteady RANS CFD: Effect of large-scale fluctuations on the velocity statistics , 2015 .

[81]  Emil Simiu,et al.  Wind Effects on Structures: An Introduction to Wind Engineering , 1980 .

[82]  Bert Blocken,et al.  Ten iterative steps for model development and evaluation applied to Computational Fluid Dynamics for Environmental Fluid Mechanics , 2012, Environ. Model. Softw..

[83]  P. E. Hancock,et al.  Pulsed-wire anemometry near walls , 1998 .

[84]  Frank H. Durgin,et al.  Pedestrian level wind studies at the Wright brothers facility , 1992 .

[85]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  The numerical wind tunnel for industrial aerodynamics: Real or virtual in the new millennium? , 2002 .

[86]  Markus Klein,et al.  An Attempt to Assess the Quality of Large Eddy Simulations in the Context of Implicit Filtering , 2005 .

[87]  S. Takakura,et al.  Numerical Simulation of Flowfield around Buildings in an Urban Area , 1993 .

[88]  Peter Bradshaw,et al.  The pulsed-wire anemometer , 1989 .

[89]  K. Ghia,et al.  Editorial Policy Statement on the Control of Numerical Accuracy , 1986 .

[90]  Jan Carmeliet,et al.  Pedestrian wind conditions at outdoor platforms in a high-rise apartment building: generic sub-configuration validation, wind comfort assessment and uncertainty issues , 2008 .

[91]  Kenny C. S Kwok,et al.  Wind tunnel study of pedestrian level wind environment around tall buildings: Effects of building dimensions, separation and podium , 2012 .

[92]  Erich J. Plate.  Engineering meteorology : fundamentals of meteorology and their application to problems in environmental and civil engineering , 1982 .

[93]  J Wilson,et al.  Best Practice Guidelines , 2020, Restorative Justice for Survivors of Sexual Abuse.

[94]  T. Stathopoulos,et al.  Computer simulation of wind environmental conditions around buildings , 1996 .

[95]  Reginald Storms,et al.  Wind environmental conditions in passages between buildings , 1986 .

[96]  Christopher J. Roy,et al.  Review of code and solution verification procedures for computational simulation , 2005 .

[97]  Nigel Wood,et al.  Wind Flow Over Complex Terrain: A Historical Perspective and the Prospect for Large-Eddy Modelling , 2000, Boundary-Layer Meteorology.

[98]  C. Scruton,et al.  Wind Effects on Structures , 1970 .

[99]  Xinyang Jin,et al.  New inflow boundary conditions for modelling the neutral equilibrium atmospheric boundary layer in computational wind engineering , 2009 .

[100]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Application of computational fluid dynamics in building performance simulation for the outdoor environment: an overview , 2011 .

[101]  F. Menter.  Eddy Viscosity Transport Equations and Their Relation to the k-ε Model , 1997 .

[102]  Bert Blocken,et al.  50 years of Computational Wind Engineering: Past, present and future , 2014 .

[103]  Bje Bert Blocken,et al.  Pedestrian wind comfort around buildings : comparison of wind comfort criteria based on whole-flow field data for a complex case study , 2013 .

[104]  Aya Hagishima,et al.  Analysis of airflow over building arrays for assessment of urban wind environment , 2013 .

[105]  Jörg Franke,et al.  The COST 732 Best Practice Guideline for CFD simulation of flows in the urban environment: a summary , 2011 .

[106]  M Michiel Bottema,et al.  Wind climate and urban geometry , 1993 .

[107]  M. Kato.  The modeling of turbulent flow around stationary and vibrating square cylinders , 1993 .

[108]  A. Wise,et al.  Wind effects due to groups of buildings , 1970 .

[109]  Alan Robins,et al.  Numerical considerations for simulations of flow and dispersion around buildings , 1997 .

[110]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Application of infrared thermography for pedestrian wind evaluation , 1997 .

[111]  Ian F. C. Smith,et al.  Improving simulation predictions of wind around buildings using measurements through system identification techniques , 2015 .

[112]  Kemal Hanjalic.  Will RANS Survive LES? A View of Perspectives , 2004 .

[113]  Joel H. Ferziger,et al.  APPROACHES TO TURBULENT FLOW COMPUTATION - APPLICATIONS TO FLOW OVER OBSTACLES , 1990 .

[114]  W. Jones,et al.  The prediction of laminarization with a two-equation model of turbulence , 1972 .

[115]  R N Meroney,et al.  On the use of numerical modelling for near-field pollutant dispersion in urban environments--A review. , 2016, Environmental pollution.

[116]  Rex Britter,et al.  Velocity measurements and order of magnitude estimates of the flow between two buildings in a simulated atmospheric boundary layer , 1979 .

[117]  D. Grawe,et al.  BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINE FOR THE CFD SIMULATION OF FLOWS IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT , 2007 .

[118]  W. H. Melbourne,et al.  Criteria for environmental wind conditions , 1978 .

[119]  Sumio Kawamura,et al.  Environmental wind characteristics around the base of a tall building - a comparison between model test and full scale experiment - , 1988 .

[120]  S. Murakami,et al.  Three-dimensional numerical simulation of air flow around a cubic model by means of large eddy simulation , 1987 .

[121]  F. Livesey,et al.  A scour technique for the evaluation of pedestrian winds , 1990 .

[122]  T. Shih,et al.  A New K-epsilon Eddy Viscosity Model for High Reynolds Number Turbulent Flows: Model Development and Validation , 1994 .

[123]  Gianluca Iaccarino,et al.  Quantifying inflow and RANS turbulence model form uncertainties for wind engineering flows , 2015 .

[124]  P. Spalart.  A One-Equation Turbulence Model for Aerodynamic Flows , 1992 .

[125]  Yasushi Uematsu,et al.  Effects of the corner shape of high-rise buildings on the pedestrian-level wind environment with consideration for mean and fluctuating wind speeds , 1992 .

[126]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[127]  Christopher J. Roy,et al.  A Complete Framework for Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification in Scientific Computing (Invited) , 2010 .

[128]  Frank Baetke,et al.  Numerical simulation of turbulent flow over surface-mounted obstacles with sharp edges and corners , 1990 .

[129]  Yasushi Uematsu,et al.  A visual technique for the evaluation of the pedestrian-level wind environment around buildings by using infrared thermography , 1996 .

[130]  William L. Oberkampf,et al.  Guide for the verification and validation of computational fluid dynamics simulations , 1998 .

[131]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Computational wind engineering: Past achievements and future challenges , 1997 .

[132]  Jon A. Peterka,et al.  Comparison of pedestrian wind acceptability criteria , 1990 .

[133]  Eddy Willemsen,et al.  Design for wind comfort in The Netherlands: Procedures, criteria and open research issues , 2007 .

[134]  Bert Blocken,et al.  Coupled urban wind flow and indoor natural ventilation modelling on a high-resolution grid: A case study for the Amsterdam ArenA stadium , 2010, Environ. Model. Softw..

[135]  A Gadilhe,et al.  Numerical and experimental modelling of the three-dimensional turbulent wind flow through an urban square , 1993 .

[136]  Christopher J. Roy,et al.  A comprehensive framework for verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification in scientific computing , 2011 .

[137]  T. Kármán,et al.  Mechanische Ahnlichkeit und Turbulenz , 1930 .

[138]  I. P. Castro,et al.  The measurement of Reynolds stresses with a pulsed-wire anemometer , 1982, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[139]  Bje Bert Blocken,et al.  Computational Fluid Dynamics for urban physics: Importance, scales, possibilities, limitations and ten tips and tricks towards accurate and reliable simulations , 2015 .

[140]  George P. Huang,et al.  The law of the wall in turbulent flow , 1995, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[141]  Shinsuke Kato,et al.  Application of exceedance probability based on wind kinetic energy to evaluate the pedestrian level , 2011 .

[142]  Bje Bert Blocken,et al.  Full-scale measurements of indoor environmental conditions and natural ventilation in a large semi-enclosed stadium : possibilities and limitations for CFD validation , 2012 .

[143]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  CFD simulation of pedestrian-level wind conditions around buildings: Past achievements and prospects , 2013 .

[144]  Yoshihide Tominaga,et al.  AIJ guidelines for practical applications of CFD to pedestrian wind environment around buildings , 2008 .

[145]  Michael Schatzmann,et al.  Recommendations on the use of CFD in wind engineering , 2004 .

[146]  Shuzo Murakami,et al.  Three-dimensional numerical simulation of turbulent flow around buildings using the k−ε turbulence model , 1989 .

[147]  Marcel Bottema,et al.  A method for optimisation of wind discomfort criteria , 2000 .

[148]  Yoshihide Tominaga,et al.  CFD Simulation of Near-Field Pollutant Dispersion in the Urban Environment: A Review of Current Modeling Techniques , 2013 .

[149]  Bruce R. White.  Analysis and wind-tunnel simulation of pedestrian-level winds in San Francisco , 1992 .

[150]  P D Cenek,et al.  The effect of architectural detailing on pedestrian level wind speeds , 1992 .

[151]  Bje Bert Blocken,et al.  3D CFD simulations of wind flow and wind-driven rain shelter in sports stadia: Influence of stadium geometry , 2011 .

[152]  Peter Richards,et al.  Appropriate boundary conditions for computational wind engineering models revisited , 2011 .

[153]  H.P.A.H. Irwin,et al.  A simple omnidirectional sensor for wind-tunnel studies of pedestrian-level winds , 1981 .

[154]  G. Dezsö,et al.  On assessment of wind comfort by sand erosion , 2006 .

[155]  Shuzo Murakami,et al.  Current status and future trends in computational wind engineering , 1997 .

[156]  Bje Bert Blocken,et al.  CFD evaluation of natural ventilation of indoor environments by the concentration decay method: CO2 gas dispersion from a semi-enclosed stadium , 2013 .

[157]  Sandrine Aubrun,et al.  Sand erosion technique applied to wind resource assessment , 2012 .

[158]  S. Murakami,et al.  Comparison of various revised k–ε models and LES applied to flow around a high-rise building model with 1:1:2 shape placed within the surface boundary layer , 2008 .

[159]  Pramod K. Subbareddy,et al.  48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition , 2010 .

[160]  Yoshihide Tominaga,et al.  Cooperative project for CFD prediction of pedestrian wind environment in the Architectural Institute of Japan , 2007 .

[161]  Jon Wieringa,et al.  Updating the Davenport roughness classification , 1992 .

[162]  Yoshihiko Hayashi,et al.  Numerical study on velocity-pressure field and wind forces for bluff bodies by κ-ϵ, ASM and LES , 1992 .

[163]  Alexis K.H. Lau,et al.  Air ventilation impacts of the "wall effect" resulting from the alignment of high-rise buildings , 2009 .

[164]  Jin Duan,et al.  Assessment of pedestrian wind environment in urban planning design , 2015 .

[165]  P. Roache.  QUANTIFICATION OF UNCERTAINTY IN COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS , 1997 .

[166]  T. Stathopoulos,et al.  CFD simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer: wall function problems , 2007 .

[167]  A. Gräßer,et al.  Nichtrotierende Meßeinrichtung zur gleichzeitigen Erfassung von Windgeschwindigkeit und Windrichtung / Non-rotating instrument for simultaneous measurement of wind velocity and wind direction , 1990 .

[168]  G.Th. Visser,et al.  Wind comfort predictions by wind tunnel tests: comparison with full-scale data , 1994 .

[169]  Jan Hensen,et al.  Application of CFD in Building Performance Simulation for the Outdoor Environment: an Overview , 2011 .

[170]  A. Baskaran,et al.  Investigation of air flow around buildings using computational fluid dynamics techniques , 1996 .

[171]  C. Baker.  Wind engineering—Past, present and future , 2007 .

[172]  Patrick Rambaud,et al.  CFD modelling of small particle dispersion: The influence of the turbulence kinetic energy in the atmospheric boundary layer , 2009 .

[173]  Tetsuro Tamura,et al.  AIJ guide for numerical prediction of wind loads on buildings , 2006 .

[174]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  WIND-TUNNEL TECHNIQUES FOR ASSESSMENT OF PEDESTRIAN-LEVEL WINDS , 1993 .

[175]  N. Isyumov,et al.  Wind tunnel studies of buildings and structures , 1998 .