CFD simulations of wind-driven rain on typical football stadium configurations in China's hot-summer and cold-winter zone

Abstract

A crucial weather event that impacts spectators' comfort is wind-driven rain (WDR). WDR can be especially pronounced inside football stadiums because they are semi-enclosed spaces. So far, only vertical rainfall has been considered in the design of spectator stands whereas oblique rainfall, which has wetted out stands to a certain extent, has been neglected. China's Hot-summer and Cold-winter Zone are typical regions in which the frequency of WDR is highest. Therefore, it is significant to analyze the WDR patterns in typical football stadium configurations and their effects on stand wetting patterns.Wind-flow and WDR patterns were studied in 27 typical football stadium configurations in China. Conditions were observed under light, moderate, and heavy rain using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations with wind tunnel testing as validation. Wind-flow patterns were calculated by a steady-state RANS simulation while the Eulerian Wall Film model interacted with a discrete phase model that was applied to calculate the WDR pattern. Then, the stand wetting percentages of typical configurations were compared. Results revealed that the WDR distribution on stands is significantly impacted by cross-section types, stand arrangement, and roof geometry. WDR was shielded best with a descending roof, followed by flat and ascending roofs. Football stadiums with four separate stands got severely wet compared to rectangular stands. An elevated rectangular roof with horizontal windshields is the most preferential for design, with a wet percentage of 10%.