Abstract
The European program HORIZON2020 aims to have 20% of electricity produced by renewable sources. The building sector represents 40% of the European Union energy consumption. Reducing energy consumption in buildings is therefore a priority for energy efficiency. The present investigation explores the most adequate roof shapes compatible with the placement of different types of small wind energy generators on high-rise buildings for urban wind energy exploitation. The wind flow around traditional state-of-the-art roof shapes is considered. In addition, the influence of the roof edge on the wind flow on high-rise buildings is analyzed. These geometries are investigated, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and the turbulence intensity threshold for horizontal axis wind turbines is considered. The most adequate shapes for wind energy exploitation are identified, studying vertical profiles of velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and turbulence intensity. Curved shapes are the most interesting building roof shapes from the wind energy exploitation point of view, leading to the highest speed-up and the lowest turbulence intensity.
Highlights
It is well known that wind energy drastically reduces carbon emissions and avoids geo-political risks associated with supply and infrastructure constraints, as well as energy dependence from other regions.The HORIZON2020 Research and Innovation Programme [1] in Future Smart Cities aims to have 20%of electricity produced by renewable sources
The results showed that, considering both velocity distributions and turbulence intensity, flat roofs were more attractive for installing wind turbines [10]
We use in the present investigation the steady-state Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS)
Summary
It is well known that wind energy drastically reduces carbon emissions and avoids geo-political risks associated with supply and infrastructure constraints, as well as energy dependence from other regions. The efficient placement of smaller scale wind turbines in the urban environment is a largely unexplored area This implies a waste of an important energy resource [2,3]. One of the most significant aspects of this lack of societal acceptance is due to customers’ disappointment regarding the difference between the expected and the real energy generated This difference occurs because the performances of the wind turbines are calculated under ideal conditions in flat terrain, conditions very different from the real conditions in the urban environment [6]. The present study aims to identify the most adequate basic geometrical shapes that maximize the speed-up and minimize the turbulence intensity on high-rise (buildings higher than 23–30 m or 5–10 stories [15]) building roofs, for the purpose of urban wind energy exploitation.
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