Three-Dimensional Wind Field Construction and Wind Turbine Siting in an Urban Environment

Mingrui Liu,Xiuling Wang

doi:10.3390/fluids5030137

Abstract

Three-dimensional urban wind field construction plays an important role not only in the analysis of pedestrian levels of comfort but also in the effectiveness of harnessing wind energy in an urban environment. However, it is challenging to accurately simulate urban wind flow due to the complex land use in urban environments. In this study, a three-dimensional numerical model was developed for urban wind flow construction. To obtain an accurate urban wind field, various turbulence models, including the Reynolds stress model (RSM), k-ω shear stress transport (SST), realizable k-ε, and (Re-Normalisation Group (RNG) k-ε models were tested. Simulation results were compared with experimental data in the literature. The RSM model showed promising potential in simulating urban wind flow. The model was then adopted to simulate urban wind flow for Purdue University Northwest, which is located in the Northwest Indiana urban region. Based on the simulation results, the optimal location was identified for urban wind turbine siting.

Highlights

Three-dimensional urban wind field construction is important for many activities: weather forecasting, natural ventilation system design, pedestrian comfort level analysis, atmospheric dispersion assessments, and urban wind energy harnessing
Two parts are presented here: the validation study of the various turbulence models adopted for urban wind field simulations and the urban wind flow analysis and turbine siting for Purdue
Turbulence Model Selection different turbulence models were adopted for urban wind flow simulations in both the single-building

Summary

Introduction

Three-dimensional urban wind field construction is important for many activities: weather forecasting, natural ventilation system design, pedestrian comfort level analysis, atmospheric dispersion assessments, and urban wind energy harnessing. It is challenging to accurately simulate urban wind flow due to complex land usage and terrain conditions, as well as the variety of building shapes, heights, densities, and layout configurations in urban environments. Provided some views on the potential benefits and challenges in urban wind energy [1]; they reviewed the urban wind energy knowledge and discussed some current issues. Recent progress that was made in urban wind energy assessment was addressed. Many researchers focus on urban wind field construction and analysis. The straightforward methods are wind tunnel testing and field measurements [2,3,4,5]. Earlier wind tunnel tests were done by

Methods

Results

Conclusion