An Efficient Large Eddy Simulation Algorithm for Computational Wind Engineering: Application to Surface Pressure Computations on a Single Building.

Published

August 1, 1999

Author(s)

Ronald G. Rehm, Kevin B. McGrattan, Howard R. Baum, Emil Simiu

Abstract

An efficient large eddy simulation algorithm is used to compute mean surface pressure distributions on an isolated building of various rectangular shapes. Two incoming mean wind profiles are considered in these computations, one uniform with height and the other increasing as a power law with height. The second profile accounts for flow retardation due to friction from the surface of the earth; in neither case are turbulent fluctuations included in the work. Mean pressure distributions are computed for a tall building, a cubical building and a flat building. These computational results are compared with wind tunnel measurements and computations performed by other investigators. The agreement in most cases is very good with differences of approximately twenty percent. Whereas the computations reported by the other investigators require supercomputers, most of our computations have been performed on a modern workstation and can be carried out routinely with computation times representing a small fraction of those required by supercomputing.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 6371

Report Number

6371

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.6371

Keywords

wind effects, aerodynamics, simulation, pressure, structures

Citation

Rehm, R. , McGrattan, K. , Baum, H. and Simiu, E. (1999), An Efficient Large Eddy Simulation Algorithm for Computational Wind Engineering: Application to Surface Pressure Computations on a Single Building., NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.6371 (Accessed October 8, 2025)