Journal of Chongqing University (English Edition) [ISSN 1671-8224]
Vol. 10 No. 2
June 2011
68
Article ID: 1671-8224(2011)02-0068-10
To cite this article: CHANG Ru, GAO Juan, ZHANG Wei, YE Hui-hua, LV Jian. Numerical simulation of wind flow fields around buildings using the lattice Boltzmann method
[J]. J Chongqing Univ: Eng Ed [ISSN 1671-8224], 2011, 10(2): 68-77.
Numerical simulation of wind flow fields around buildings using the
lattice Boltzmann method
CHANG Ru
†
, GAO Juan, ZHANG Wei , YE Hui-hua, LV Jian
Energy Technology and Mechanical Engineering Department, Tianjin Institute of Urban Construction, Tianjin 300384, P. R. China
Received 14 September 2010; received in revised form 21 March 2011
Abstract: This paper presents the simulation results of the wind environment around a single high-rise building and that around
two tall buildings in tandem arrangement by using the lattice Boltzmann method with an aim to understand the ventilation issues
around high-rise buildings in an urban environment. We analyzed the velocity distribution around the buildings and performed
numericl simulations to reveal the formation and evolution law of the complex vortex system around the high-rise buildings.
Numerical simulation results manifest a periodicity phenamenon in the process of the vortex evolution. For the case of two high-
rise buildings, wind velocity in the space between the two buildings is very small, which is nearly a silent regime. Wind velocity
above the front building is relatively larger and the maximum wind velocity is approximately 2.5 times the incoming wind
velocity. The numerical results can be used in layout planning of high-rise residential buildings to create better environment for
ventilation purpose in an urban area.
Keywords: high-rise building; wind environment; lattice Boltzmann method; numerical simulation
CLC number: TU984 Document code: A
1 Introduction
a
High-rise buildings have a great impact on the
surrounding environmental wind field. Because the
wind speed on vertical direction shows exponential
distribution over an increased windward façade area,
the impact of such new phenomenon on high-rise
buildings in terms of natural ventilation is greater than
low-rise buildings. Therefore, for maintaining and
improving good air quality around high-rise buildings,
calculating the wind loads on a structure correctly, and
calculating the heating load, cooling load and air
infiltration rate for air-conditioning and space heating,
†
CHANG Ru (常茹): nuan609@126.com.
Funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin Municipality
(No. 06YFJMJC05300) and the Science and Technology
Development Foundation for Universities of Tianjin Municipality
(No. 20060823).
it is important to know the characteristics of the wind
flow field around a high-rise building. The purpose of
this work was to reveal the air flow patterns around a
single high-rise building and two buildings in tandem
arrangement.
Traditionally, the model test of a boundary layer
wind tunnel is the main method for forecasting the
surface wind load of a building, but in recent years,
with the rapid development of computer technology
and numerical methods, numerical simulation becomes
an effective way to forecast the surface wind loads and
the wind environment around a high-rise building.
Many studies on this topic have been reported.
Calhoun et al.
[1]
numerically simulated and studied the
velocity field of a high building with a complex shape
in various wind flowing directions. Ahuja et al.
[2]
studied the characteristics of the mutual interference
between high-rise buildings through wind tunnel
experiments. Wang et al.
[3]
and Li et al.
[4]
numerically
stimulated the surrounding wind environment of the
high-rise buildings, respectively. Wang and Chen
[5]