Numerical simulation of pedestrian level wind flow around buildings: Effect of corner modification and orientation

Abstract

Environmental wind conditions at the pedestrian level are strongly influenced by building shape and orientation. The present study investigates the effect of corner modified buildings on the pedestrian level wind conditions, by using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach with a realizable k−ε model and the standard k−ε model (SKE) with LK modification and revised closure coefficients. This study systematically explores the extent of different wind conditions surrounding buildings at the pedestrian level. Wind tunnel experiments were conducted to validate the CFD results. The results of CFD simulations obtained using a realizable k−ε model fairly matches with experimental values for strong wind conditions, whereas the modified SKE model performs better for simulating the flow in low wind speed regions. The area-averaged amplification factor is evaluated for different wind speed conditions and compared for different cases. Its value for high wind speeds reduces nearly 3% for circular modified buildings, and for low wind speeds its value increases significantly. Further, the wake length behind the corner modified building reduces significantly, and for circular corner modified building it reduces nearly 32%.