Effects of roof slope and wind direction on wind pressure distribution on the roof of a square plan pyramidal low‑rise building using CFD simulation
Subject Areas : Structural Mechanics
Keywords: Wind pressure · Roof slope · Pyramidal roof · Wall openings · k, ε Turbulence model · Pressure coefficients · Wind incidence angle,
Abstract :
AbstractRoof shape and slope are both important parameters for the safety of a structure, especially when facing wind loads. Thepresent study demonstrates the pressure variations due to wind load on the pyramidal roof of a square plan low-rise buildingwith 15% wall openings through CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation. Many studies on roofed structures havebeen performed in the past; however, a detailed review of the literature indicates that the majority of these studies focusedon flat, hip, gable and spherical roofs only. There is a lack of research that analyses these effects on pyramidal roof buildings.ANSYS (Analysis System) ICEM (Integrated Computer Engineering and Manufacturing)-CFD and ANSYS Fluentcommercial packages have been used for modelling and simulation, respectively, and ANSYS CFD Post was used to obtainthe results. A realizable k–ε turbulent model was used for the pressure distribution on the roof of the building model. Inthe present study, twenty-four models with different roof slopes (α), i.e. 0°, 10°, 20°, and 30°, with various wind incidenceangles (ϴ), i.e. 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 75° were investigated. The influence of roof slope and wind incidence angle areanalysed in this study. Results have been represented through pressure coefficient (Cp) contours on the roof surface andvelocity streamlines of the flow field of the different cases. The optimization of the roof slope may be achieved by consideringdifferent wind incidence angles for buildings so that they may better withstand wind force in a specific area. When windpressure coefficients from building models with openings were compared with pressure coefficients from building modelswithout openings, it was found that the pressure coefficients for building models without openings are almost twice or threetimes that of the pressure coefficients for models with openings.