Systematic influence of wind incident directions on wind circulation in the re-entrant corners of high-rise buildings

Abstract

The mechanical and aerodynamic effect of building shape plays a dominate role in the pedestrian level wind environment. These effects have been presented in numerous studies and are available in many wind codes. However, most studies have focused on wind flow around conventional buildings and are limited to few wind directions. The present study investigated wind circulation in the re-entrant corners of cross-shaped high-rise buildings from various wind directions. The investigation focused on the pedestrian level wind environment in the re-entrant corners with different aspect ratios of building arrangements. Ninety cases of case study arrangements were evaluated using wind tunnel experimentation. The results show that for adequate wind circulation in the re-entrant corners, building orientations and separations play a critical role. Furthermore, in normal wind incident directions and at a high aspect ratio, poor wind flow was observed in the re-entrant corners. Moreover, it was noted that an optimized building orientation and aspect ratio significantly improved the wind flow in re-entrant corners and through passages. In addition, it was observed that oblique wind incident direction increased wind circulation in the re-entrant corners and through passages.