CFD prediction of air flow characteristics along the profile of a rural house model located on different ridge terrain height

Abstract

Rural houses are classified as low rise and non-engineered building. These types of structures are at risk of getting damage during a windstorm event. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the air flow characteristic using CFD for structures located on flat terrain. However, wind that passes a ridge terrain has stronger wind speed and can be a potential hazard to rural houses located on top of it. This study investigates the air flow characteristics along the 2-D profile of a rural house model located on top of a ridge terrain considering the effect of varying the terrain height. Computational Fluid Dynamics method was used with the aid of ANSYS FLUENT software package. The results presented in this study are in term of pressure coefficient both with positive and negative values. The flow patterns over the models are observed using streamline. The result showed the ridge terrain height influenced the pressure coefficient and flow pattern. The highest suction was observed for the steepest ridge terrain due to the build-up in the local up-slope wind acceleration.