Computational versus Wind Tunnel Simulation of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Flow for Structural Engineering Applications

摘要

Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) flow simulations have been performed using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to assess the suitability of the simulated flow for structural wind engineering applications. The governing equations of straight ABL flow for structural engineering purposes were formulated based on state-of-the-art meteorological studies. The balance of the horizontal pressure gradient force and the ground friction was used in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver to achieve dynamic equilibrium throughout the ABL flow. In the simulation using the precursor method, turbulent ABL flow was developed naturally to achieve horizontally homogenous ABL flow. To reduce computational resource requirements this study employed a model scale approach, similar to the approach used in wind tunnel simulations.Based on the assessment of the simulated results via comparisons with measurements reported in the literature and values recommended in the ASCE 49-12 Standard for wind tunnel testing, the quality of the simulations for structural engineering applications was found to be comparable with the quality of their wind tunnel counterparts. The results also identified issues, mainly due to grid resolution and inaccurate SGS modeling, that need to be addressed by future research.