Wind Flow over Small Buildings for Renewable Energy Applications

Abstract

The wind flow over three buildings is simulated and presented for different wind directions using the standard k-ε turbulence model. The main purposes are, first, to predict the minimum wind load regions on roof mounted photovoltaic modules for reducing the cost of installing them on a mono-slope roof building. Secondly, to predict the flow fields along the gable of a tent roof building for analysis of the performance of a transverse axis wind turbine along the gable. The results for the cube simulation are compared with the experimental and other CFD results for validating the CFD. The present research provides the best locations for roof mounted PV modules. These results were significantly lower in magnitude than the NBCC values. The flow fields over the tent roof building were predicted and consistent with the field data. The flow over buildings was highly dependent on the building orientation and geometry.