• Wind and Structures
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.87-98
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• 2019

As a regenerated turbulent wind field process, wind tunnel test has proven to be a promising approach for investigating the transmission tower-line system (TTLS) performance in view of experimental scaled models design, simulation techniques of wind field, and wind induced responses subjected to typhoon. However, the challenges still remain in using various wind tunnels to regenerate turbulent wind field with considerable progress having been made in recent years. This review paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art of the wind tunnel based on active or passive controlled simulation techniques. Specific attention and critical assessment have been given to: (a) the design of experimental scaled models, (b) the simulation techniques of wind field, and (c) the responses of TTLS subjected to typhoon in wind tunnel. This review concludes with the research challenges and recommendations for future research direction.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.203-225
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• 2013

An analysis framework for vehicle-bridge dynamic interaction system under turbulent wind is proposed based on the relevant theory of wind engineering and dynamics. Considering the fluctuating properties of wind field, the stochastic wind velocity time history is simulated by the Auto-Regressive method in terms of power spectral density function of wind field. The bridge is represented by three-dimensional finite element model and the vehicle by a multi-rigid-body system connected by springs and dashpots. The detailed calculation formulas of unsteady aerodynamic forces on bridge and vehicle are derived. In addition, the form selection of wind barriers, which are applied as the windbreak measures of newly-built railways in northwest China, is studied based on the suggested evaluation index, and the suitable values about height and porosity rate of wind barriers are studied. By taking a multi-span simply-supported box-girder bridge as a case study, the dynamic response of the bridge and the running safety indices of the train traveling on the bridge with and without wind barriers are calculated. The limit values of train speed with respect to different wind velocities are proposed according to the allowance values in the design code.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.287-300
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• 2022

Unconventional structures are getting more popular in recent days. Large-span roofs are used for many structures, such as airports, stadiums, and conventional halls. Identifying the pressure distribution and wind load acting on those structures is essential. This paper offers a collaborative study of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and wind tunnel tests for assessing wind pressure distribution for a building with a combined slender curved roof. The hybrid turbulence model, Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES), simulates the open terrain turbulent flow field. The wind-induced local pressure coefficients on complex roof structures and the turbulent flow field around the structure were thus calculated based upon open terrain wind flow simulated with the FLUENT software. Local pressure measurements were investigated in a boundary layer wind tunnel simultaneous to the simulation to determine the pressure coefficient distributions. The results predicted by CFD were found to be consistent with the wind tunnel test results. The comparative study validated that the recommended IDDES model and the vortex method associated with CFD simulation are suitable tools for structural engineers to evaluate wind effects on long-span complex roofs and plan irregular buildings during the design stage.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.597-616
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• 2020

The blockage effect on the aerodynamic characteristics of tall buildings is a fundamental issue in wind tunnel test but has rarely been addressed. To evaluate the blockage effects on the aerodynamic forces on a square tall building and flow field peripherally, large eddy simulations (LES) were performed on a 3D square cylinder with an aspect ratio of 6:1 under the uniform smooth inflow and turbulent atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) inflow generated by the narrowband synthesis random flow generator (NSRFG). First, a basic case at a blockage ratio (BR) of 0.8% was conducted to validate the adopted numerical methodology. Subsequently, simulations were systematically performed at 6 different BRs. The simulation results were compared in detail to illustrate the differences induced by the blockage, and the mechanism of the blockage effects under turbulent inflow was emphatically analysed. The results reveal that the pressure coefficients, the aerodynamic forces, and the Strouhal number increase monotonically with BRs. Additionally, the increase of BR leads to more coherence of the turbulent structures and the higher intensity of the vortices in the vicinity of the building. Moreover, the blockage effects on the aerodynamic forces and flow field are more significant under smooth inflow than those under turbulent inflow.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 2013

Recent studies proved turbulent flow properties in high-rise building models differ from those in low-rise building models by comparing turbulent statistics. Although it is important to understand the flow characteristics within and above high-rise building models in the study of urban environment, it is still unknown and under investigation. For this reason, we performed wind tunnel experiment using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to investigate and identify the turbulent flow properties and characteristic flow patterns in high-rise building models. In particular, we focus on instantaneous flow field near the canopy and extracted flow field when homogeneous flow field were observed. As a result, six characteristic flow patterns were identified and the relationship between these flow patterns and turbulent organized structure were shown.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.131-146
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• 2022

Tornadic wind flow is inherently turbulent. A turbulent wind flow is characterized by fluctuation of the velocity in the flow field with time, and it is a dynamic process that consists of eddy formation, eddy transportation, and eddy dissipation due to viscosity. Properly modeling turbulence significantly increases the accuracy of numerical simulations. The lack of a clear and detailed comparison between turbulence models used in tornadic wind flows and their effects on tornado induced pressure demonstrates a significant research gap. To bridge this research gap, in this study, two representative turbulence modeling approaches are applied in simulating real-world tornadoes to investigate how the selection of turbulence models affects the simulated tornadic wind flow and the induced pressure on structural surface. To be specific, LES with Smagorinsky-Lilly Subgrid and k-ω are chosen to simulate the 3D full-scale tornado and the tornado-structure interaction with a building present in the computational domain. To investigate the influence of turbulence modeling, comparisons are made of velocity field and pressure field of the simulated wind field and of the pressure distribution on building surface between the cases with different turbulence modeling.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.283-299
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• 2017

Two types of aerodynamic admittance function (AAF) that have been adopted in bridge aerodynamics are addressed. The first type is based on a group of supposed relations between flutter derivatives and AAFs. In so doing, the aero-elastic properties of a section could be used to determine AAFs. It is found that the supposed relations hold only for cases when the gust frequencies are within a very low range. Predominant frequencies of long-span bridges are, however, far away from this range. In this sense, the AAFs determined this way are of little practical significance. Another type of AAFs is based on the relation between the Theodorsen circulation function and the Sears function, which holds for thin airfoil theories. It is found, however, that an obvious illogicality exists in this methodology either. In this article, a viewpoint is put forward that AAFs of bluff bridge deck sections are inherently dependent on oncoming turbulent properties. This kind of dependence is investigated with a thin plate and a double-girder bluff section via computational fluid dynamics method. Two types of wind fluctuations are used for identification of AAFs. One is turbulent wind flow while the other is harmonic. The numerical results indicate that AAFs of the thin plate agree well with the Sears AAF, and show no obvious dependence on the oncoming wind fields. In contrast, for the case of bluff double-girder section, AAFs identified from the turbulent and harmonic flows of different amplitudes differ among each other, exhibiting obvious dependence on the oncoming wind field properties.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2017

Wind environment in urban residential areas is an important index to consider when evaluating the living environment. However, due to the complexity of the flow field in residential areas, it is difficult to specify the correct inflow boundary conditions in the large eddy simulation (LES). In this paper, the weighted amplitude wave superposition (WAWS) is adopted to simulate the fluctuating velocity data, which satisfies the desired target wind field. The fluctuating velocity data are given to the inlet boundary of the LES by developing an UDF script, which is implemented into the FLUENT. Then, two numerical models - the empty numerical wind tunnel model and the numerical wind tunnel model with spires and roughness elements are established based on the wind tunnel experiment to verify the present method. Finally, the turbulence generation approach presented in this paper is used to carry out a numerical simulation on the wind environment in an urban residential area in Lisbon. The computational results are compared with the wind tunnel experimental data, showing that the numerical results in the LES have a good agreement with the experimental results, and the simulated flow field with the inlet fluctuations can generate a reasonable turbulent wind field. It also shows that strong wind velocities and turbulent kinetic energy occur at the passageways, which may affect the comfort of people in the residential neighborhood, and the small wind velocities and vortexes appear at the leeward corners of buildings, which may affect the spreading of the pollutants.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.479-496
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• 2008

In this paper, computer simulation of wind flow around a single cooling tower with louver support at the base in the KAZERUN power station in south part of IRAN is presented as a case study. ANSYS FLOTRAN, an unstructured finite element incompressible flow solver, is used for numerical investigation of wind induced pressure load on a single cooling tower. Since the effects of the wind ribs on external surface of the cooling tower shell which plays important role in formation of turbulent flow field, an innovative relation is introduced for modeling the effects of wind ribs on computation of wind pressure on cooling tower's shell. The introduced relation which follows the concept of equivalent sand roughness for the wall function is used in conjunction with two equations ${\kappa}-{\varepsilon}$ turbulent model. In this work, the effects of variation in the height/spacing ratio of external wind ribs are numerically investigated. Conclusions are made by comparison between computed pressure loads on external surface of cooling tower and the VGB (German guideline for cooling tower design) suggestions.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.679-686
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• 2002

Turbulence greatly influence on atmospheric flow field. In the atmosphere, turbulence is represented as turbulent diffusion coefficients. To estimate turbulent diffusion coefficients in previous studies, it has been used constants or 2-level method which divides surface layer and Ekman layer. In this study, it was introduced Smagorinsky method which estimates turbulent diffusion coefficient not to divide the layer but to continue in vertical direction. We simulated 3-D flow model and TKE equation applied turbulent diffusion coefficients using two methods, respectively. Then we showed the values of TKE and the condition of each term to TKE. The results of Smagorinsky method were reasonable. But the results of 2-level method were not reasonable. Therefor, it had better use Smagorinsky method to estimate turbulent diffusion coefficients. We are expected that if it is developed better TKE equation and model with study of computational method in several turbulent diffusion coefficients for reasonably turbulent diffusion, we will able to predict precise wind field and movements of air pollutants.