Validation Process for Rooftop Wind Regime CFD Model in Complex Urban Environment Using an Experimental Measurement Campaign

This research presents a validation methodology for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) assessments of rooftop wind regime in urban environments. A case study is carried out at the Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering building at the University of Alberta campus. A numerical assessment of rooftop wind regime around buildings of the University of Alberta North campus has been performed by using 3D steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, on a large-scale high-resolution grid using the ANSYS CFX code. Two methods of standard deviation (SDM) and average (AM) were introduced to compare the numerical results with the corresponding measurements. The standard deviation method showed slightly better agreements between the numerical results and measurements compared to the average method, by showing the average wind speed errors of 10.8% and 17.7%, and wind direction deviation of 8.4 degrees and 12.3 degrees, for incident winds from East and South, respectively. However, the average error between simulated and measured wind speeds of the North and West incidents were 51.2% and 24.6%, respectively. Considering the fact that the upstream geometry was not modeled in detail for the North and West directions, the validation methodology presented in this paper is deemed as acceptable, as good agreement between the numerical and experimental results of East and South incidents were achieved.

Automated summary

This research proposes a validation methodology for CFD assessments of rooftop wind regime in urban environments, which was applied to a case study at the University of Alberta campus. The study introduced two methods of standard deviation and average to compare numerical results with measurements, showing better agreement in terms of wind speed errors and direction deviations for East and South wind directions.