Large eddy simulation of wind flow through an urban environment in its full-scale wind tunnel models

Abstract

Wind flow through urban areas is studied either by wind tunnel scale experiments or via computational fluid dynamics simulations through full-scale actual models. The large difference between the Reynolds numbers based on the geometries of actual cities and wind tunnel scale cities makes the dynamic similarity between the two models uncertain. In this study, the mean and turbulent flow parameters were investigated using a large eddy simulation for two models i.e. the actual urban area model and the wind tunnel scale (1:1000) model. Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Malaysia, was considered as the case study of an urban area. Vertical velocity profiles were plotted at five locations representing different building packing densities. The results of wind tunnel scale model largely agreed with the actual model with some discrepancies in the building vicinity and wakes. The dissimilarity of the wake patterns due to the large difference in Re was responsible for the deviations. Largest discrepancies were found in the lateral and wall-normal velocity components and turbulence stresses. The results casted a shadow on the applicability of the conclusions derived from the simulations on wind tunnel scale models to the actual urban environments they represented. The deviation between the two models should be assessed before proceeding with experimental or numerical simulations on small-sized models.

Keywords

• dynamic similarity
• les
• atmospheric flow
• turbulence
• wind tunnel model
• full-scale model