Experimental and numerical study on mean pressure distributions around an isolated gable roof building with and without openings

Abstract In this study, the influence of opening position and wind direction on pressure distribution around isolated gable roof buildings with and without openings were investigated. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed and compared with wind tunnel experimental results. One of the aims of this study was to develop well-defined design guidelines for typical gable roof structures, identifying critical localised pressure rises due to different wind attack angles. Existing international standards provide limited design guidelines for localised wind pressure distribution of such buildings, especially in cases where there are openings. Wind tunnel experiments were conducted to obtain mean pressure distributions of critical areas of the building under different wind directions with four different opening configurations, namely, an enclosed building, a building with one windward opening, a building with one windward opening and one sidewall opening, and a building with one windward opening and two sidewall openings. A CFD-based numerical simulation approach was used to create a virtual wind tunnel in the computational domain. Sensitivity analyses for grid resolutions and turbulence models of simulations were performed for the building with a windward opening. Results from the numerical simulations show good agreement with the experimental results on pressure distribution. The validated models were used to identify critical areas of the buildings that must be considered in the design stage. The relevant pressure coefficients are presented and compared with the standards. The importance of performing a comprehensive wind study using a numerical approach or wind tunnel tests is highlighted.

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

[2]  Chris Letchford,et al.  Net pressures on a low-rise full scale building , 1999 .

[3]  Santiago Pindado,et al.  A parametric, experimental analysis of conical vortices on curved roofs of low-rise buildings , 2005 .

[4]  N. Null.  Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures , 2003 .

[5]  J. D. Holmes,et al.  MEAN AND FLUCTUATING INTERNAL PRESSURES INDUCED BY WIND , 1980 .

[6]  Peter Richards,et al.  Net pressures on the roof of a low-rise building with wall openings , 2005 .

[7]  Jon Galsworthy,et al.  Probabilistic Approach to Determining Internal Pressures Based on Wind Tunnel Measurements , 2012 .

[8]  A. Moret Rodrigues,et al.  Experimental and numerical study of wind pressures on irregular-plan shapes , 2005 .

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

[10]  Kishor C. Mehta.  Wind induced damage observations and their implications for design practice , 1984 .

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

[12]  G. Kopp,et al.  Mean pressure distributions and reattachment lengths for roof-separation bubbles on low-rise buildings , 2016 .

[13]  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 .

[14]  P. Saathoff,et al.  Building Internal Pressure: Sudden Change , 1981 .

[15]  Yoshihide Tominaga,et al.  Air flow around isolated gable-roof buildings with different roof pitches: Wind tunnel experiments and CFD simulations , 2015 .

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

[17]  Takeshi Ohkuma,et al.  Numerical prediction of wind loading on buildings and structures : Activities of AIJ cooperative project on CFD , 1997 .

[18]  Bje Bert Blocken,et al.  CFD simulation of cross-ventilation flow for different isolated building configurations: validation with wind tunnel measurements and analysis of physical and numerical diffusion effects , 2012 .

[19]  Bert Blocken,et al.  CFD analysis of cross-ventilation of a generic isolated building with asymmetric opening positions : impact of roof angle and opening location , 2015 .

[20]  Yoshiyuki Ono,et al.  LES analysis of unsteady characteristics of conical vortex on a flat roof , 2006 .

[21]  S. P. Spekreijse,et al.  Efficient and accurate implementation of the k-omega turbulence model in the NLR multi-block Navier-Stokes system , 2000 .

[22]  Yann Bartosiewicz,et al.  Numerical and Experimental Investigations on Supersonic Ejectors , 2005 .

[23]  P. Richards,et al.  Influence factors for wind induced internal pressure in a low rise building with a dominant opening , 2011 .

[24]  H. Kawai,et al.  Characteristics of fluctuating suction and conical vortices on a flat roof in oblique flow , 1996 .

[25]  P. Richards,et al.  Internal pressure in a building with multiple dominant openings in a single wall: Comparison with the single opening situation , 2012 .

[26]  F. Menter.  Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering applications , 1994 .

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

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

[29]  Yuanqi Li,et al.  Wind Tunnel Tests for Wind Pressure Distribution on Gable Roof Buildings , 2013, TheScientificWorldJournal.

[30]  J. Carmeliet,et al.  Validation of CFD simulations of wind-driven rain on a low-rise building facade , 2007 .

[31]  H Hamid Montazeri,et al.  CFD simulation of wind-induced pressure coefficients on buildings with and without balconies: Validation and sensitivity analysis , 2013 .

[32]  Hl Henk Schellen,et al.  Wind-driven rain on the facade of a monumental tower: numerical simulation, full-scale validation and sensitivity analysis , 2009 .

[33]  Maryam Asghari Mooneghi,et al.  Wind loading on ridge, hip and perimeter roof tiles: A full-scale experimental study , 2017 .

[34]  J. Cermák,et al.  Correlation of internal and area-averaged external wind pressures on low-rise buildings , 1997 .

[35]  Jianming He,et al.  A numerical study of wind flow around the TTU building and the roof corner vortex , 1997 .

[36]  Kyung Chun Kim,et al.  Flow structure around a 3-D rectangular prism in a turbulent boundary layer , 2003 .

[37]  Yoshihide Tominaga,et al.  On the accuracy of CFD simulations of cross-ventilation flows for a generic isolated building: Comparison of RANS, LES and experiments , 2017 .

[38]  B. J. Vickery.  Gust-factors for internal-pressures in low rise buildings , 1986 .