Role of Inflow Turbulence and Surrounding Buildings on Large Eddy Simulations of Urban Wind Energy

Predicting flow patterns that develop on the roof of high-rise buildings is critical for the development of urban wind energy. In particular, the performance and reliability of devices largely depends on the positioning strategy, a major unresolved challenge. This work aims at investigating the effect of variations in the turbulent inflow and the geometric model on the flow patterns that develop on the roof of tall buildings in the realistic configuration of the University of Birmingham’s campus in the United Kingdom (UK). Results confirm that the accuracy of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) predictions is only marginally affected by differences in the inflow mean wind speed and turbulence intensity, provided that turbulence is not absent. The effect of the presence of surrounding buildings is also investigated and found to be marginal to the results if the inflow is turbulent. The integral length scale is the parameter most affected by the turbulence characteristics of the inflow, while gustiness is only marginally influenced. This work will contribute to LES applications on the urban wind resource and their computational setup simplification.