On the domain size for the steady-state CFD modelling of a tall building

There have existed for a number of years good practice guidelines for the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the field of wind engineering. As part of those guidelines, details are given for the size of flow domain that should be used around a building of height, H. For low-rise buildings, the domain sizes produced by following the guidelines are reasonable and produce results that are largely free from blockage effects. However, when high-rise or tall buildings are considered, the domain size based solely on the building height produces very large domains. A large domain, in most cases, leads to a large cell count, with many of the cells in the grid being used up in regions far from the building/wake region. This paper challenges this domain size guidance by looking at the effects of changing the domain size around a tall building. The RNG turbulence model is used in a series of steady-state solutions where the only parameter varied is the domain size, with the mesh resolution in the building/wake region left unchanged. Comparisons between the velocity fields in the near-field of the building and pressure coefficients on the building are used to inform the assessment. The findings of the work for this case suggest that a domain of approximately 10% the volume of that suggested by the existing guidelines could be used with a loss in accuracy of less than 10%.

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