Validation of CFD simulations of wind-driven rain on a low-rise building facade

For decades, the assessment of the amount and intensity of wind-driven rain (WDR) falling onto building facades has been performed either by measurements or by semi-empirical methods such as the WDR index and the WDR relationship. In the past 15 years, numerical assessment methods based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) have secured their place in WDR research. Despite the widespread use of these methods at present, very few efforts have been made towards validation of CFD simulations of WDR on buildings. This paper presents a detailed validation study for a low-rise building of complex geometry, supported by a recently published, high-resolution full-scale wind, rain and WDR measurement dataset. It is shown that the CFD simulations can provide quite accurate predictions of the amount of WDR impinging on the building facade, for a number of very different rain events, and that the main discrepancies, in this study, are due to a simplification of the upstream wind conditions.     

New external convective heat transfer coefficient correlations for isolated low-rise buildings

Building energy analyses are very sensitive to external convective heat transfer coefficients so that some researchers have conducted sensitivity calculations and proved that depending on the choice of those coefficients, energy demands estimation values can vary from 20% to 40%. In this context, computational fluid dynamics calculations have been performed to predict convective heat transfer coefficients at the external surfaces of a simple shape low-rise building. Effects of wind velocity and orientation have been analyzed considering four surface-to-air temperature differences. Results show that the convective heat transfer coefficient value strongly depends on the wind velocity, that the wind direction has a notable effect for vertical walls and for roofs and that the surface-to-air temperature difference has a negligible effect for wind velocity higher than 2 m/s. External convective heat transfer coefficient correlations are provided as a function of the wind free stream velocity and wind-to-surface angle.     

Application of CFD plug-ins integrated into urban and building design platforms for performance simulations: A literature review

The transformation of urban and building design into green development is conducive to alleviating resource and environmental problems. Building design largely determines pollutant emissions and energy consumption throughout the building life cycle. Full consideration of the impact of urban geometries on the microclimate will help construct livable and healthy cities. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations significantly improve the efficiency of assessing the microclimate and the performance of design schemes. The integration of CFD into design platforms by plug-ins marks a landmark development for the interaction of computer-aided design (CAD) and CFD, allowing architects to perform CFD simulations in their familiar design environments. This review provides a systematic overview of the classification and comprehensive comparison of CFD plug-ins in Autodesk Revit, Rhinoceros/Grasshopper, and SketchUp. The applications of CFD plug-ins in urban and building design are reviewed according to three types: single-objective, multi-objective, and coupling simulations. Two primary roles of CFD plug-ins integrated into the design process, including providing various micro-scale numerical simulations and optimizing the original design via feedback results, are analyzed. The issues of mesh generation, boundary conditions, turbulence models, and simulation accuracy during CFD plug-in applications are discussed. Finally, the limitations and future possibilities of CFD plug-ins are proposed.     

Numerical simulations of wind-driven rain on building envelopes based on Eulerian multiphase model

A numerical simulation approach for evaluation of wind-driven rain (WDR) on building envelopes is presented based on Eulerian multiphase model. Unlike existing methods, which are generally on the basis of Lagrange frame to deal with raindrop motions by trajectory-tracking techniques, the present approach considers both wind and rain motions and their interactions under Euler frame. By virtue of the Eulerian multiphase model, the present method could significantly reduce the complexity in evaluations of WDR parameters, simplify the boundary condition treatments and is more efficient to predict transient states of WDR, spatial distributions of rain intensity, impacting rain loads on building surfaces, etc. A numerical example shows that the simulation results by the present method agree well with available experimental and numerical data, verifying the accuracy and reliability of the WDR simulation approach based on the Eulerian multiphase model. It is also demonstrated through the validation example that the present method is an effective tool for numerical evaluations of WDR on building envelopes.     

An adjusted temperature wall function for turbulent forced convective heat transfer for bluff bodies in the atmospheric boundary layer

Accurate convective heat transfer predictions are required in building engineering and environmental studies on urban heat islands, building energy performance, building-envelope durability or conservation and (natural) ventilation of buildings. When applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for these computationally-expensive studies at high-Reynolds numbers, wall functions are mostly used to model the boundary-layer region. In this study, an adjustment to the standard temperature wall function is proposed for forced convective heat transfer at surfaces of typical wall-mounted bluff bodies in turbulent boundary layers, such as the atmospheric boundary layer, at moderate to high Reynolds numbers. The methodology to determine this customised temperature wall function (CWF) from validated numerical data of CFD simulations using low-Reynolds number modelling (LRNM) is explained, where a logarithmic- law behaviour is found. The performance of this CWF is evaluated for several bluff-body configurations. Standard wall functions (SWFs) yield deviations of about 40% for the convective heat transfer coefficient, compared to LRNM. With the CWF however, these deviations are reduced to about 10% or lower. The CWF therefore combines increased (wall-function) accuracy for convective heat transfer predictions with the typical advantage of wall functions compared to LRNM, being a lower grid resolution in the near-wall region, which increases computational economy and facilitates grid generation. Furthermore, this CWF can be easily implemented in existing CFD codes, and is implemented in the commercial CFD code Fluent in this study.     

Verification of a CFD model for indoor airflow and heat transfer

The SST k–ω based model is applied to calculate air-flow velocities and temperatures in a model office room. Calculations are compared with experiments and with the results of the standard k–ε, the RNG k–ε model and the laminar model. It is concluded that (a) all the three tested turbulent models predict satisfactorily the main qualitative features of the flow and the layered type of temperature fields and (b) computations with the SST k–ω based model show the best agreement with measurements. The use of this model is proposed combined with a suitable grid.     

CFD simulations of natural ventilation behaviour in high-rise buildings in regular and staggered arrangements at various spacings

Natural ventilation, which is in line with the concepts of sustainability and green energy, is widely acknowledged nowadays. Prevailing winds in urban areas are unavoidably modified by the increasing number of closely placed high-rise buildings that significantly modify the natural ventilation behaviour. This paper explores the effects of building interference on natural ventilation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. The cross-ventilation rate (temporal-average volumetric airflow rate) of hypothetical apartments in a building cluster under isothermal conditions was examined using the standard two-equation k − ? turbulence model. The sensitivity of ventilation rate to wind direction, building separation and building disposition (building shift) was studied. Placing buildings farther away from one another substantially promoted the ventilation rate, cancelling the unfavourable interference eventually when the building separation was about five times the building width (the optimum separation). The characteristic flow pattern leading to this behaviour was revealed. With the adoption of building disposition, the optimum separation could be reduced to three times the building width. In addition, the airflow rates could be doubled with suitable shifts. Building disposition is therefore one of the feasible solutions to improve the natural ventilation performance in our crowded environment.     

Overview of pressure coefficient data in building energy simulation and airflow network programs

Wind pressure coefficients (C_p) are influenced by a wide range of parameters, including building geometry, facade detailing, position on the facade, the degree of exposure/sheltering, wind speed and wind direction. As it is practically impossible to take into account the full complexity of pressure coefficient variation, building energy simulation (BES) and Airflow network (AFN) programs generally incorporate it in a simplified way. This paper provides an overview of pressure coefficient data and the extent to which they are currently implemented in BES–AFN programs. A distinction is made between primary sources of C_p data, such as full-scale measurements, reduced-scale measurements in wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and secondary sources, such as databases and analytical models. The comparison between data from secondary sources implemented in BES–AFN programs shows that the C_p values are quite different depending on the source adopted. The two influencing parameters for which these differences are most pronounced are the position on the facade and the degree of exposure/sheltering. The comparison of C_p data from different sources for sheltered buildings shows the largest differences, and data from different sources even present different trends. The paper concludes that quantification of the uncertainty related to such data sources is required to guide future improvements in C_p implementation in BES–AFN programs.     

On the validity of numerical wind-driven rain simulation on a rectangular low-rise building under various oblique winds

Wind-driven rain (WDR) is one of the most important boundary conditions for hygrothermal building envelope analysis. Although Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of WDR on building facades has been applied intensively in the past decade, validation is still quite limited, and most previous validation efforts have focused either on wind directions perpendicular to the facade or on buildings of complex geometry. This paper addresses CFD simulations of WDR on the west facade of a simple, rectangular low-rise test building for various oblique winds and CFD validation by comparing the simulation results with full-scale measurements. It is shown that overall, fairly accurate results can be obtained, but that the numerical simulations can significantly underestimate the WDR amounts near the downwind edge of the facade when the wind direction is increasingly oblique. These discrepancies are at least partly attributed to the very small impact angles of the raindrops at these facade positions and the resulting inaccuracies in the numerical model.     

Coupled simulations for naturally ventilated rooms between building simulation (BS) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for better prediction of indoor thermal environment

The coupling strategies for natural ventilation between building simulation (BS) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are discussed and coupling methodology for natural ventilation is highlighted. Two single-zone cases have been used to validate coupled simulations with full CFD simulations. The main discrepancy factors have also been analyzed. The comparison results suggest that for coupled simulations taking pressure from BS as inlet boundary conditions can provide more accurate results for indoor CFD simulation than taking velocity from BS as boundary conditions. The validation results indicate that coupled simulations can improve indoor thermal environment prediction for natural ventilation taking wind as the major force. With the aids of developed coupling program, coupled simulations between BS and CFD can effectively improve the speed and accuracy in predicting indoor thermal environment for natural ventilation studies.     

Numerical simulations of wind measurements at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

In this paper two typical results of numerical simulations of wind measurements at an airport are discussed. The first case deals with the long reach of some isolated individual ‘roughness elements’. The positioning of the farms and haystacks result in a weak vortex which travels over a very long distance. The second case is about the influence of an industrial complex just outside the airport premises. In this case the actual wake behind the buildings is the dominant flow feature. The numerical simulations are able to explain the measured disturbances.     

Computational fluid dynamics simulations of wind-driven rain on a mid-rise residential building with various types of facade details

Numerical studies of wind-driven rain (WDR), reporting detailed analysis of rain exposure on building facades, focus mainly on simplified building facades. However, small-scale facade details have a large impact on the rain exposure of a building, redistributing WDR locally. The present study reports results of computational fluid dynamics simulations with Eulerian multiphase (EM) model for WDR on a stand-alone mid-rise residential building. The influence of facade details, namely roof overhangs, balconies and window sills, is analysed. It is shown that even a very small surface detail, such as a window sill with a size of 0.10?m, can decrease catch ratio by up to 37% and droplet impact speed by up to 40%. Numerical simulations also show the practicality of the EM model for detailed analysis of WDR intensity on a complex building and its ability to be used as a design tool.     

A second degree approximation for the calculation of the transfer function coefficients for heat conduction through walls

Calculation of the conduction transfer function coefficients using a state space representation requires the transient governing differential equation to be discretized in space by the use of finite difference or finite element methods, in order to obtain a set of first order differential equations. The use of FEM to discretize the media gives an additional advantage due to it is possible to use a higher order approximation of the dependent variable, which gives us a better accuracy with less elements. In this paper, the transient heat flow problem is tackled using a quadratic finite element. The variational formulation for the governing differential equation is developed, the Ritz approximation to construct the finite element formulation is used and the approximation functions are presented using a normalized local coordinate system for elements with three equally spaced nodes for the one-dimensional problem. The 2D transient problem is presented using a rectangular 8 node element. Results with 1, 2 and 3 three-node elements are compared with the ASHRAE conduction transfer functions for the 3, 5, 6, 8 and 32 wall groups and a 2D-example is given.     

Optimising the ventilation configuration of naturally ventilated livestock buildings for improved indoor environmental homogeneity

Due to the geometrical structure and ventilation configuration of naturally ventilated livestock buildings the animal occupied zone can experience large heterogeneities in ventilation efficiency. Ensuring a homogeneous indoor environment is important when designing naturally livestock buildings as producers should be confident that all animals are receiving the same environmental conditions, at least for the prevailing climate. Moreover, by including climate homogeneity in the building design process, the occurrence of high airspeeds in specific regions of a building can be reduced during windy outdoor conditions, thereby reducing the cold-stressing of animals in these regions. Therefore, it is desirable to know how to alter the geometrical features of a building in order to promote homogeneity in the indoor environment. In the present study, response surface methodology and computational fluid dynamics were used to develop predictive models that described the homogeneity of the indoor environment of a naturally ventilated livestock building as a function of its geometry and ventilation configuration. Three different eave opening conditions were chosen in order to improve the applicability of the developed response surfaces to practical situations encountered in Ireland. Results showed that for high to medium porosity eave opening conditions the environmental homogeneity was most sensitive to the building's roof pitch. However, when low porosity eave opening conditions were used the homogeneity was found to be highly sensitive to the sidewall height. Overall, this study found that modifying the building geometry has the greatest effect on environmental heterogeneity when the most restrictive eave opening condition was employed. It is also hoped that with the developed equations, a designer can subsequently select the best combination of design variables in order to achieve good uniformity in a naturally ventilated calf building.     

Parameters optimization of a vertical ground heat exchanger based on response surface methodology

Vertical ground heat exchangers are one of the most important parts of geothermal utilization systems. In order to understand the effect of simultaneous variation of design parameters; a three dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation was carried out. Based on the effective parameters on the heat exchanger efficiency and the total heat transfer efficiency in cooling mode, and with the aid of the second-order Response Surface Model, two functions for the total heat transfer efficiency and the heat exchanger efficiency were derived. The effects of different design parameters on the response variables were examined. Based on the Response Surface Model, it was found that the dimensionless inlet fluid temperature and the dimensionless pipe diameter significantly affect the response variables, while the response variables are weakly affected by dimensionless depth. Finally, an optimization was performed and the optimum heat exchanger is defined using the model equations.     

A novel method for full-scale measurement of the external convective heat transfer coefficient for building horizontal roof

The external convective heat transfer coefficient (CHTC) of building horizontal roof is an indispensable parameter for accurately calculating heat transfer through the roof and simulating airflow around the building. A novel method, namely naphthalene sublimation method, was developed for measuring external CHTC and was compared with heat balance method in this study. The comparative field measurements were carried out on the roof of a nine-story building using both methods simultaneously. The measured CHTCs on the roof of building show an approximate linear relation with representative wind velocities. The magnitude of results using the two methods was very close to each other, though the slope of the linear function using the naphthalene sublimation method was a little larger than that using the heat balance method. The difference can be considered as the slow response of heat flux meter used in heat balance method. In addition, the variance of temperature on test specimen's surfaces was not found to have significant effect on measurement results.     

Predicting the structural response of a compartment fire using full-field heat transfer measurements

Inverse heat transfer analysis (IHT) was used to measure the full-field heat fluxes on a small scale (0.9 m×0.9 m×0.9 m) stainless steel SS304 compartment exposed to a 100 kW diffusion flame. The measured heat fluxes were then used in a thermo-mechanical finite element model in Abaqus to predict the response of an aluminum 6061-T6 compartment to the same exposure. Coupled measurements of deflection and temperature using Thermographic Digital Image Correlation (TDIC) were obtained of an aluminum compartment tested until collapse. Two convective heat transfer coefficients, h =35 W/m²-K and h =10 W/m²-K were examined for the thermal model using the experimentally measured heat fluxes. Predictions of the thermal and structural response of the same compartment were generated by coupling Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and Abaqus using the two values for h, h =35 W/m²-K and h from convection correlations. Predictions of deflection and temperature using heat fluxes from IHT and FDS with h=35 W/m²-K agreed with experimental measurements along the back wall. The temperature predictions from the IHT-Abaqus model were independent of h, whereas the temperature predictions from the FDS-Abaqus model were dependent on h.     

Evaluation of ventilation code requirements for building crawl spaces

Building ventilation code requirements for crawl spaces were reviewed from 1937 to today and though remain largely unchanged, provide designers and builders flexibility in moisture control methods. This study evaluates the current building ventilation code requirements for at-grade and below grade crawl space using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software with experiment inputs. The research first tested the soil moisture evaporation rate from two monitored crawl spaces in Colorado, US, which produces an average moisture load of 13.75 grains/(ft²·h) (9.6g/(m²·h)) and a maximum load of 42.7 grains/(ft²·h) (29.8g/(m²·h)). The soil moisture evaporation rates identified align well in magnitude with those recorded in the literature, supporting the estimation method used. The experiment reveals that plastic ground cover can effectively reduce the moisture load from the soil by an average of 93%. The study then developed a CFD model of the monitored crawl space to assess the necessity and effectiveness of various ventilation code requirements. The space effective leakage area to the exterior was determined through field pressurization testing and CFD analysis to be approximately 0.26in.²/ft² of floor area. The CFD predictions, validated with the measured data, verify that the building code requirements for at-grade crawl spaces appear sufficient, but have limitations for below grade crawl spaces. Sealed crawl spaces perform better in humid climates, supporting previous research, and mechanical ventilation is justified for below grade crawl spaces only. The paper provides suggestions for the revisions to the current building code to recognize below grade underfloor spaces.     

A venturi-shaped roof for wind-induced natural ventilation of buildings: Wind tunnel and CFD evaluation of different design configurations

Wind tunnel experiments and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are used to analyse the flow conditions in a venturi-shaped roof, with focus on the underpressure in the narrowest roof section (contraction). This underpressure can be used to partly or completely drive the natural ventilation of the building zones. The wind tunnel experiments are performed in an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel at scale 1:100. The 3D CFD simulations are performed with steady RANS and the RNG k-? model. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to evaluate the accuracy of steady RANS and the RNG k-? model for this application and (2) to assess the magnitude of the underpressures generated with different design configurations of the venturi-shaped roof. The CFD simulations of mean wind speed and surface pressures inside the roof are generally in good agreement (10–20%) with the wind tunnel measurements. The study shows that for the configuration without guiding vanes, large negative pressure coefficients are obtained, down to −1.35, with reference to the free-stream wind speed at roof height. The comparison of design configurations with and without guiding vanes shows an – at least at first sight – counter-intuitive result: adding guiding vanes strongly decreases the absolute value of the underpressure. The reason is that the presence of the guiding vanes increases the flow resistance inside the roof and causes more wind to flow over and around the roof, and less wind through it (wind-blocking). As a result, the optimum configuration is the one without guiding vanes.     

Performance analysis of the building envelope: A case study of the Main Hall,Shinawatra University

The envelope of the Main Hall, Shinawatra University has been designed to provide protection from energy gain. According to initial estimates, the Main Hall could achieve an overall thermal transfer value (OTTV) of 10.16 W/m², which is four times lower than those recommended by the Thai national standard. This study aims to evaluate the actual energy performance of the Main Hall building envelope using field measurements and simulations. The air temperature, surface temperature, and relative humidity were measured at frequent intervals, both indoors and outdoors. Hourly average meteorological data for insolations were utilized in order to calculate the solar gain by light transmission. Based on the empirical data, the energy fluxes through the envelope on eight different orientations were simulated and the average value was found within 7% of the estimated OTTV. Using the same empirical data for the outdoor condition, simulations of other common types of building envelope in Thailand were carried out for comparison. The results of the analysis show that the Main Hall's lightweight and highly insulated building envelope outperforms other commonly used heavyweight envelopes in preventing building energy gain in the hot-humid climate of Thailand. Although the use of the lightweight and highly insulated envelope helps reduce the operating and investment costs of the air conditioning system as well as the cost of building structure, it also increases the investment cost of the envelope substantially. However, the life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) reveals that the life cycle cost (LCC) of the Main Hall envelope is the most economical, and the increased investment cost of the Main Hall envelope requires a discounted payback period of only 3–5 years, depending on the envelope types used in the comparison. Furthermore, it should be noted that greater savings and a more favorable pay back period could be obtained if this highly energy efficient envelope is applied to other typical buildings, especially high-rise structures in urban areas.