Large eddy simulation of wind effects on a super-tall building

Abstract

A new inflow turbulence generation method and a combined dynamic SGS model recently developed by the authors were applied to evaluate the wind effects on 508 m high Taipei 101 Tower. Unlike the majority of the past studies on large eddy simulation (LES) of wind effects on tall buildings, the present numerical simulations were conducted for the full-scale tall building with Reynolds number greater than <TEX>$10^8$</TEX>. The inflow turbulent flow field was generated based on the new method called discretizing and synthesizing of random flow generation technique (DSRFG) with a prominent feature that the generated wind velocity fluctuations satisfy any target spectrum and target profiles of turbulence intensity and turbulence integral length scale. The new dynamic SGS model takes both advantages of one-equation SGS model and a dynamic production term without test-filtering operation, which is particular suitable to relative coarse grid situations and high Reynolds number flows. The results of comparative investigations with and without generation of inflow turbulence show that: (1) proper simulation of an inflow turbulent field is essential in accurate evaluation of dynamic wind loads on a tall building and the prescribed inflow turbulence characteristics can be adequately imposed on the inflow boundary by the DSRFG method; (2) the DSRFG can generate a large number of random vortex-like patterns in oncoming flow, leading to good agreements of both mean and dynamic forces with wind tunnel test results; (3) The dynamic mechanism of the adopted SGS model behaves adequately in the present LES and its integration with the DSRFG technique can provide satisfactory predictions of the wind effects on the super-tall building.