• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.51-70
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• 2008

CFD is applied to evaluate pedestrian wind comfort at outdoor platforms in a high-rise apartment building. Model validation is focused on generic building sub-configurations that are obtained by decomposition of the actual complex building geometry. The comfort study is performed during the design stage, which allows structural design changes to be made for wind comfort improvement. Preliminary simulations are performed to determine the effect of different design modifications. A full wind comfort assessment study is conducted for the final design. Structural remedial measures for this building, aimed at reducing pressure short-circuiting, appear to be successful in bringing the discomfort probability estimates down to acceptable levels. Finally, the importance of one of the main sources of uncertainty in this type of wind comfort studies is illustrated. It is shown that the uncertainty about the terrain roughness classification can strongly influence the outcome of wind comfort studies and can lead to wrong decisions. This problem is present to the same extent in both wind tunnel and CFD wind comfort studies when applying the same particular procedure for terrain relation contributions as used in this paper.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.223-242
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• 2024

Wind comfort in cold climates is one of the most essential factors for urban planners. This issue is particularly important for sidewalks that are in line with the prevailing wind flow and surrounded by high-rise buildings. Imam Street near the University Square in Tabriz is one of the passages that struggle with uncomfortable wind speeds. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of sidewalk walls on pedestrian wind comfort. These multifunctional walls not only serve as street furniture, but also reduce wind speed at pedestrian level. In this work, all simulations are performed using the RWIND tool and validated by wind tunnel experiments at the Architectural Institute of Japan. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of the angle, height and spacing of the walls on wind attenuation at pedestrian level. The results show the effect of multifunctional walls on pedestrian-level wind mitigation. By rotating the windbreak walls from 0 to 60 degrees along the street, the average wind speed decreases by 30% to 46% compared to a situation without this type of wall. Increasing the wall height from 1.5 to 2 meters reduces the urban wind speed by 39-46%. However, increasing the distance between the sidewalk walls from 3.5-9.5 meters reduces the speed in the models from 46% to 32.7%. Finally, it has been demonstrated that sidewalk walls with a height of 2 meters, a rotation angle of 60° and a distance of 3.5 meters are the optimal choice for wind attenuation at pedestrian level.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.315-320
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• 2022

With the rapid development of urbanization the problems of pedestrian-level wind comfort and natural ventilation of tall buildings are becoming increasingly prominent. The velocity at the pedestrian level ($\overline{MVR}$) and variation of wind pressure coefficients $\overline{{\Delta}C_p}$ between windward and leeward surfaces of tall buildings were investigated systematically through numerical simulations. The examined parameters included building density ρ, height ratio of building α_H, width ratio of building α_B, and wind direction θ. The linear and quadratic regression analyses of $\overline{MVR}$ and $\overline{{\Delta}C_p}$ were conducted. The quadratic regression had better performance in predicting $\overline{MVR}$ and $\overline{{\Delta}C_p}$ than the linear regression. $\overline{MVR}$ and $\overline{{\Delta}C_p}$ were optimized by the NSGA-II algorithm. The LINMAP and TOPSIS decision-making methods demonstrated better capability than the Shannon's entropy approach. The final optimal design parameters of buildings were ρ = 20%, α_H = 4.5, and α_B = 1, and the wind direction was θ = 10°. The proposed method could be used for the optimization of pedestrian-level wind comfort and natural ventilation in a residential area.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.402-409
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• 2008

Wind loads and environments in realistic situations surrounded by neighboring buildings may be considerably different from those in idealized or simplified situations such as codes and standards. Interference effects of change in wind passage of a building group on wind loads and wind environments are reviewed. Wind-induced interference effects depend mainly on the building geometry and arrangement of these structures, their orientation and upstream terrain conditions. The most important factor among them may be the arrangement of building structures which can change the wind direction directly. Interference effects regarding wind loads are discussed with examples of window damages by typhoon and of pressure measurements in the boundary layer wind tunnel. Wind environment problems are also discussed, specially underlined on pedestrian comfort and safety. Various evaluation techniques or standards of wind environment are introduced. The change of wind velocity between the panel-type apartment buildings is examined, depending on the distance each other.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.337-349
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• 1998

A numerical and experimental study was performed for the wind flow field in one area, comprising a group of several pavilions separated by passageways, of the EXPO '98 - a World Exposition (Lisbon, Portugal). The focus of this study is the characterization of the flow field to assess pedestrian comfort. The predictions were obtained employing the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the turbulence effects dealt with the ${\kappa}-{\varepsilon}$ RNG model. The discretization of the differential equations was accomplished with the control volume formulation in a Cartesian coordinate system, and an advanced segregated procedure was used to achieve the link between continuity and momentum equations. The evaluation of the overall numerical model was performed by comparing its predictions against experimental data for a square cylinder placed in a channel. The predicted values, for the practical geometry studied, are in a good agreement with the experimental data, showing the performance and the reliability of the ${\kappa}-{\varepsilon}$ RNG model and suggesting that the numerical simulation is a reliable methodology to provide the required information.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.169-176
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to analyze outdoor thermal comfort of apartments planning characteristic of pedestrian height in Beijing, China. Selecting 322 apartment complexes with more than 1000 households and more than 10 buildings(including 10 buildings), mainly in Chaoyang District and Tongzhou District to select 32 basic layout types and then 12 typical layout types were select in 32 basic layout types. Finally, the simulation was conducted for the 12 typical layout types using the micro-climate model ENVI-met to evaluate the wind environment, the thermal environment and the comfort. The results of this study as follows: In the parallel arrangement, it has the best outdoor thermal comfort of Slab-East-Parallel(S/E/P). Next is Slab-South-Parallel(S/S/P), Tower-South-Parallel(T/S/P) in turn. In the stagger arrangement, Mixture-South-North and South Stagger-1(M/S/NSS-1) has the best outdoor thermal comfort and Slab-South-North and South Stagger(S/S/NSS), Tower-South-North and South Stagger(T/S/NSS), Mixture-South-North and South Stagger-3(M/S/NSS-3), Mixture-South-North and South Stagger-4(M/S/NSS-4), Mixture-South-North and South Stagger-2(M/S/NSS-2) in turn. In the cluster arrangement, Mixture-Mixture-Cluster-2(M/M/C-2) has the best outdoor thermal comfort and Mixture-Mixture-Cluster-3(M/M/C-3), Mixture-Mixture-Cluster-1(M/M/C-1) in turn. Due to the low wind speed and high air temperature, it is necessary to consider the layout types that can form the wind road at first, such as Mixture-South-North and South Stagger-1(M/S/NSS-1), Slab-South-North and South Stagger(S/S/NSS) and so on.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.483-497
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• 2022

Three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of flow around a hipped-roof building representative of UK inland conditions are conducted. Unsteady simulations are performed using three variations of the k-ϵ RANS turbulence model namely, the Standard, Realizable, and RNG models, and their predictive capability is measured against current European building standards. External pressure coefficients and wind loading are found through the BS 6399-2:1997 standard (obsolete) and the current European standards (BS EN 1991-1-4:2005 and A1:20101). The current European standard provides a more conservative wind loading estimate compared to its predecessor and the k-ϵ RNG model falls within 15% of the value predicted by the current standard. Surface shear stream-traces and Q-criterion were used to analyze the flow physics for each model. The RNG model predicts immediate flow separation leading to the creation of vortical structures on the hipped-roof along with a larger separation region. It is observed that the Realizable model predicts the side vortex to be a result of both the horseshoe vortex and the flow deflected off it. These model-specific aerodynamic features present the most disparity between building standards at leeward roof locations. Finally, pedestrian comfort and safety criteria are studied where the k-ϵ Standard model predicts the most ideal pedestrian conditions and the Realizable model yields the most conservative levels.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.27-32
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• 2012

In recent years, the quality of the outdoor thermal environment has come to be regarded as important as that of the indoor thermal environment. Since the outdoor thermal environment is composed of many elements and is affected by many factors, it is not easy to evaluate the impact of each factor separately. Hence, a comprehensive assessment method is required. In order to evaluate the pedestrian level comfort of an outdoor climate, it is necessary to investigate not only wind velocity but also various physical elements, such as temperature, moisture, radiation, etc. Prediction of wind and thermal environment for a large scale buildings is one of the most important targets for research. Wind and thermal change in a city area is a very complicated phenomenon affected by many physical processes. The purpose of this study is to develop a design plan for wind environment at a large Buildings. In this study, we analyze outdoor wind environment and thermal environment on buildings using the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) method. The arrangement of building models is an apartment in Jeonju. These prediction of wind and thermal environment for a large scale buildings is necessary in a plan before a building is built.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.565-575
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• 2019

This study aimed to examine the influence of physical environment, microclimate, and comfort on sustaining outdoor activities. This study has identified the main factors that influence sustaining outdoor activities as physical environment, comfort in the physical environment, microclimate and microclimate comfort. For analysis, the study conducted the investigation on pedestrian walkability during spring, summer and winter of the year 2017. The microclimate levels were also recorded at the same time. The method of logit regression analysis was used to analyze these outcomes. The result showed that the comfort and safety of the physical environment as well as the ideal climatic conditions, in terms of temperature, wind level, and solar insolation, were related to sustaining outdoor activities. Also, walking and shopping in the physical and climatic environment were the factors that were found to be more influenced than the act of remaining in a place and forming conversations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2013

As car-oriented road policies have been made forward so far, relatively pedestrians' walking conditions are so in poor environments that more than two thousand pedestrians die from car accidents every year. Pedestrians' walking right has been severely invaded like that. Pedestrians' walking right is a right that people are able to walk safely and comfortably in pleasant surroundings as long as they don't threaten the public safety, order maintenance, and welfare. The government has an obligation to provide safe, comfortable, and pleasant environments to pedestrians. Recently interests in pedestrians' safety are increasing, government-driven supports have been made to make safe, pleasant, and healthy walking surroundings. As poor walking condition improvement projects cost high, they should be progressed to accomplish maximal effects using finite finances efficiently, and post feasibility evaluations of the projects should be severely estimated. However site selecting indicators which satisfy with the goal for composing safe working surroundings have not been decided yet, though currently it has a legal basis to specify walking condition improvement sites by the Law for Pedestrians' safety and Comfort Increasement. Therefore this study focuses on suggesting improved ways for selecting sites where pedestrians' safe environment project by reviewing previous research. When project sites are selected, evaluation indicators related to awareness survey of residents and history should be excluded, and disaster safety assessments for walking safety facilities, latent human hazards and natural disasters like a strong wind are proposed besides evaluations on pedestrians' safety and walking environment for matching with the purpose of the project to make safe working surroundings.