Thermal environment and airflow in a semi-enclosed space surrounded by buildings – a numerical study

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study of the coupled airflow and thermal environment in a semi-enclosed space surrounded by buildings. Our numerical simulation couples the heat transfer calculation and the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) airflow simulation in which a RNG (renormalization-group) k-ε model is used. Both the solar radiation and building/ground thermal storage were considered in the heat transfer part. The heat transfer model needs the convective heat transfer information given by CFD and at the same time it can also provide surface temperature as the thermal boundary condition for CFD simulations. Through this model, the heat transfer and airflow behaviors in the buildings and the surrounding environment can be investigated. In addition, the effects of different building/ground materials were analyzed through the coupled airflow and thermal model. It is found that the building/ground thermal mass and its thermal properties can have significant influences on the thermal environment around the buildings. The results can provide some guidance on improving thermal environment, air flow information, and as well as the urban design and building plan for architects and building engineers.