Studying Wind Flow-Field Around a Triangular Building by CFD and Wind Tunnel

This study investigates flow field around a building with triangular cross section by experiments and numerical simulations. The experiments were conducted in an open wind tunnel. Pressure distribution on the surfaces of a scaled model of the building was recorded at different wind speeds and wind angles. The simulation was based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique with computational conditions similar to those in the experiments. It was revealed that the pressure distribution on the building surfaces changed significantly with the wind angles, the direction of the surface relative to the wind angle, and position on the surface. The effect of the different wind angles in determining the drag coefficient on the building was also performed. Flow visualization with smoke and the CFD results reveal flow structure around and behind the building which strongly correlate with the measured pressure distribution on the building surface.