Abstract
Extensive research has been undertaken to understand form finding and the structural behaviour of tensile membrane structures (TMS). In comparison, little is known about the environmental behaviour of this class of structure and a lack of predictive tools for informing their design serves as a barrier to their wider acceptance by the building industry. This paper presents part of a research study carried out to investigate the effect of various forms, configurations and orientations of conical TMS on the airflow behaviour under, around and above these structures for application in hot arid climates. The airflow behaviour and airspeed in an enclosed or semi-enclosed space significantly influence thermal comfort in hot-arid climates. Part of this research involved a parametric study of the airflow behaviour of conical TMS scaled models with different geometrical configurations and orientations in an environmental wind tunnel. The results of this experimental investigation were compared with results from investigations carried out in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software “FLUENT 5.5” on 1:20 and 1:1 models. The comparison showed that the CFD modelling was able to replicate much of the behaviour observed in the wind tunnel and the approach was extended to explore arrays of conical TMS. This paper presents the CFD modelling undertaken to explore airflows over varying conical tensile fabric structures. The modelling is carried over single conical structures either inverted or straight. These investigations explore how the form, geometry and orientation of a conical TMS affect the airflow rates. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the form and geometrical configuration affect the airflow behaviour and hence the thermal comfort level of the occupants of the semi-enclosed space.
Highlights
It is impractical to research on Tensile MembraneStructures (TMS) and not mention Frei Otto [1] a German Architect, a pioneer who have carried out extensive research and investigations to understand form finding and the structural behaviour of (TMS)
To carry out computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling in FLUENT first a 2D model was built in order to observe the behaviour of the airflow and its pattern to be compared to the wind tunnel results
The study presented in this paper illustrates that the airflow pattern and speed underneath and above the semi-enclosed spaces is clearly affected by the placement of the TM conical structure in the space, which displays a completely different behaviour from that achieved by a flat disc of the same diameter
Summary
Structures (TMS) and not mention Frei Otto [1] a German Architect, a pioneer who have carried out extensive research and investigations to understand form finding and the structural behaviour of (TMS). Many public facitilities such as urban furniture and bus stations are increasingly constructed of membrane structures today. [2, 3] As a result, both day lighting and natural ventilation can be provided With their multiple potentials a membrane structure building would play an attractive role in improving outdoor thermal environments and mitigating the heat island effect in the developed urban locations [4, 5]. Structures that enhance the natural ventilation and passive cooling of the semi-enclosed space
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