Application of wind tunnel experiment and CFD simulation on estimation of wind environment inside and outside a large-scale building complex with an atrium space.

For a large-scale building complex planned to be built in urban area, airflow around buildings and airflow inside a ventilated atrium of the building complex were estimated by CFO (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation, and wind and thermal environment were evaluated. The accuracy of CFO simulation was assessed by comparison with wind tunnel experiment. It was found that CFO tends to underestimate the air velocity near the ground surface compared with the results of wind tunnel experiment. In the area closer to the building, where relatively fine mesh was used, it was confirmed that both results agreed well with each other. Wind environment around the buildings was statistically evaluated using meteorological data of the area under study. It was found that the evaluation results obtained by CFO corresponded well to the results of wind tunnel experiment. Further, the effects of shutters and skylights installed for environmental control of the atrium were assessed according to the values of SET* (Standard New Effective Temperature, Gagge et al.) associated with the change of air velocity. As a result, it was confirmed from the results of both CFO and wind tunnel experiment that air velocity of the atrium may increase and comfortableness may be improved in summer season by opening shutters, while the effects of opening the skylights were relatively low.