Pedestrian wind comfort around a large football stadium in an urban environment: CFD simulation, validation and application of the new Dutch wind nuisance standard

Three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are used in combination with the new Dutch wind nuisance standard to assess pedestrian wind comfort around a large football stadium in Amsterdam, before and after the addition of new high-rise buildings. The focus of the study is on the elevated circulation deck and the surrounding streets and squares. CFD validation is performed by comparison of the simulated mean wind speed at the deck with full-scale measurements. The important effect of local ground roughness specification on the simulated wind speed values is indicated. Application of the Dutch wind nuisance standard shows that wind comfort at the elevated circulation deck is only slightly influenced by the new buildings. Wind comfort at the surrounding streets and squares however significantly deteriorates. Finally, the results obtained by the Dutch wind nuisance standard are compared to those obtained by a more simplified procedure for the transformation of wind statistics to the building site, as used in earlier studies. The more sophisticated transformation procedure in the Dutch standard was successfully validated based on full-scale measurements in earlier research. Comparison of the Dutch standard results in this study with those of the simplified procedure shows that the latter provides overestimations by up to 25% for the highest discomfort probabilities. This type of large discrepancies can significantly change the outcome of wind comfort studies.

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

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

[3]  Theodore Stathopoulos,et al.  Effects of upstream two-dimensional hills on design wind loads: a computational approach , 2006 .

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

[5]  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 .

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

[7]  B. Launder,et al.  The numerical computation of turbulent flows , 1990 .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[16]  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 .

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

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

[19]  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 .

[20]  J. W. Verkaik.  Evaluation of Two Gustiness Models for Exposure Correction Calculations , 2000 .

[21]  T. Shih,et al.  A new k-ϵ eddy viscosity model for high reynolds number turbulent flows , 1995 .

[22]  Michael Schatzmann,et al.  Quality assurance and improvement of micro-scale meteorological models , 2011 .

[23]  P. Bradshaw,et al.  Momentum transfer in boundary layers , 1977 .

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

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

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

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

[28]  Jan Carmeliet,et al.  Pedestrian Wind Environment around Buildings: Literature Review and Practical Examples , 2004 .

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

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

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

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

[33]  J. A. Wisse,et al.  Accuracy of assessment of wind speed in the built environment , 2002 .

[34]  Peter Richards,et al.  A 6 m cube in an atmospheric boundary layer flow -Part 2. Computational solutions , 2002 .

[35]  K. McKee.  Book Reviews : Wind Effects On Structures: E. Simiu and R.H. Scanlan John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York 1980, $33.50 , 1981 .

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

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

[38]  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 .

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

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

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