CFD simulation for wind comfort and safety in urban area: a case study of Coventry university central campus

摘要

Concern towards the quality of public urban areas has increased in recent years. Wind comfort and safety in pedestrian areas has become one important environmental parameter when designing new cities. Hence, architects and town planners need guidelines and simplified design tools to take account of the wind in their projects. The objectives of this study provide more insight in the pedestrian living conditions around the Hub, a newly built structure, part of Coventry University campus and at the same time study the influence of building shapes on the wind distribution. The latter is based on a series of computational fluid dynamics simulations (CFD), used to advise the University's Estates Department of the possibility of wind nuisance around the central campus area. The velocity field was computed using the finite volume method. The simulations were performed for different wind speeds and directions. The predicted results showed that the distribution of the velocity field varied and had different characteristics with different wind directions. Also, it was established that the wind speed amplification factors in diverging passages were generally larger than those in converging passages. The case study incorporated is intended to support and guide future studies of wind comfort and safety with CFD and thus makes a modest contribution in improving wind environmental quality in urban areas.