Windborne debris trajectories in tornado-like flow field initiated from a low-rise building

Abstract

This paper examines compact debris flight in tornado-like flow fields. The 6 research focuses on physically simulating a specific tornado-like vortex and on investigating 7 windborne debris flight with and without a low-rise building model. The low-rise building 8 model, 1/8 th scale with regard to the vortex core radius, was used to initiate the flight of Styrofoam spheres from its top. Debris motion was recorded using three high-speed cameras and data reduction was performed on open-source OpenPTV software. Flow field characterisation showed that including a building model does not considerably affect the averaged flow field but only the local instantaneous flow field. Debris flight analysis shows that the mean flight distance is not affected by the building model, but a change in the initial direction occurs. Comparison between local wind flow field and initial debris velocities shows good agreement, and therefore the variability in initial directions of the debris flight can be attributed to a wind-driven process. To compare with experimental data, experimental data were incorporated into debris flight equations to compute debris motion. Debris trajectories computed from experimental data show strong visual similarities with experimental trajectories and debris flight analysis presents good agreement with experimental data.

Effects of Inflow Condition on RANS and LES Predictions of the Flow around a High-Rise Building

“…has been characterized as providing a possible benefits regarding a better prediction of the flow environment to reduce the burden and cost of the roof due to ballast and anchoring. Debris due to wind storms are starting to be investigated and findings point to the conclusion that turbulence is essential to predicting risk to the public [17][18][19]. Pollution dispersion [20][21][22], wind turbine wake [23][24][25][26], and aero-acoustic applications for human comfort [27] are also among the applications where predictions of turbulence play crucial roles.…”