CFD simulation for predicting the wind effect on the high rise building: NET Tower Surabaya

Narotama International Conference on Civil Engineering 2015 (NICCE-2015)
CFD simulation for predicting the wind effect on the high rise
building: NET Tower Surabaya
DANI HARMANTO (UNIVERSITY OF DERBY), M. IKHSAN SETIAWAN, SRI
WIWOHO M. (UNIVERSITAS NAROTAMA)
ABSTRACT
The use of CFD is becoming a norm in the predicting the fluid flow in engineering especially in the mechanical
engineering. However, concern has raised over the urban design area on the predicting the quality air and wind
on the rise building / skyscraper. There are number of development of rise building is being built on the
developing country where concern on the wind effect over pedestrian sometime is neglected. The aim and
objective of this paper is demonstrating the use of CFD over a high rise building in Indonesia and taking a case
study on the new propose building at NET Tower Narotama University Surabaya, Indonesia. The CFD will be
based on one direction of wind and one velocity. The CFD will be based on the finite method. The predicted
result will be showed that the distribution of velocity and pressure field will be shown. The case study is
intended to provide a support and guidance for the future studies on developing a propose rise building in
Surabaya in particular and Indonesia in general
Keywords: CFD, wind, velocity
INTRODUCTION
High rise building is currently being built faster in the developing country compare with the European
countries. This development is aiming to accommodate the raise of the number population. In the
university, they will be aimed to accommodate more space for increase number of students, staff and
expanding space for the laboratories. High rise building will have an effect on altering the speed and
wind direction for the surrounding area. This should be noted by architect and also the authority when
the rise building is on the proposal stage. The effect of the wind can be very uncomfortable on the
pedestrian level and occasionally can be very dangerous. Predicted the wind direction on the rise
building is becoming easier and efficient by using the Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation
comparing with the traditional method using the wind tunnel. The flexibility of the CFD is
unchallenged when it comes to the design changes. The authority should have requested on the
designer to produce the effect of the wind speed and direction as the result of new design. There
should be a maximum wind speed allowance produce by the rise building as some major city in the
Europe and USA demanded. The presence of the rise building can be benefited or disadvantaged the
surrounding on the pedestrian level. The effect will be depending on the shape of the building,
orientation, size, obstacles and so on. Emil and Robert (1996) had classified number of different flows
on the rise building as seen on the figure 1.
Figure 1 Regions of high surface wind speeds around a tall building

MODELLING THE PROBLEM
Narotama University is expanding the campus as the needs to accommodate the increase number of
staff and students in the coming year by developing a new high rise building with 146 metre high in
the middle of the urban area. The building should have three open garden in 36 metre pattern from the
ground. This garden should provide enough breathing space for the occupant and also there will be a
roof top garden. Moreover, there is an air shaft in the middle of the building for the air circulation
where the air is expected from the ground floor and rise to the top floor through the air shaft. Figure 2
shows the propose building.
Figure 2 Propose new high rise building
The CFD simulation will be performed using a commercial CFD software code Star CCM+ and the
closure was provided by the realisable (k - Ԑ) turbulent modelling (Shih, 1995). Franke (2004) stated
that (k - Ԑ) should be used for the wind analysis and also provide a successful validation studies for
pedestrian-level wind conditions (Blicken and Persoon 2009). The model is created by SolidWorks
where the measurement was taken directly from the blueprint of the building. However, there is a
limitation on the study that there is no other building surrounding the model such as urban houses,
shop, hotels and so on. The area of the Narotama University is surrounding by the 3 metre high wall
which this is also being neglected during the modelling and also the simulation, Figure 3 shows the
CAD model of the propose building.
Figure 3 CAD representation of the NET Tower Surabaya

For the CFD simulation, all the wall surfaces such as the ground or the building facades is being
treated as a wall where the fluid cannot penetrated or through. Furthermore, the wall will be assumed
as a smooth surface during the CFD simulation. The mesh was created into 2458157 cells and this
being use to refine the small columns and edges. Figure 3 shows the detail mesh of the building.
Figure 4 Mesh Generation
The local meteorological data for Surabaya was taken using the windfinder.com (figure 5 shows the
data of the average wind direction and velocity for Surabaya). It was suggested that the wind direction
will be from the east and average wind velocity is 4m/s. The CFD will not use the high wind.
Figure 5 shows the wind direction for Surabaya

RESULTS
Figure 6 shows the building will receive a maximum pressure over 24 pascal. This result should be
compare and recalculate against the scale of the model. It can be said that the building will receive
significant pressure and this is helped by the open garden where it allows the wind to go through.
Figure 6 the pressure field on the area of the building
The pressure shows on the figure 6 can be used to predict the turbulent area generated by the building.
After the measurement, the turbulent will affect the area from 1 – 60 metre from the building. This
area will receive a very high velocity in daily basis with velocity up to 2 – 5 m/s (see figure 8). This
turbulent is being generated by the slot of the open garden and also the gap with the next building (see
figure 9).

Figure 7 velocity field on the surrounding area
Figure 8 velocity magnitude field on the side view of the building

Figure 9 pressure field on the side view of the building
Figure 10 Pressure field on the top view of the building

Figure 11 Velocity magnitude field on the top view of the building
Figure 12 Velocity magnitude field on the top view of the building
As the building had been agreed and finalised, it will be very difficult and expensive to provide a
change to the design. However, the prediction of the wind condition should be taken account when
and during the design stage of the propose building. This will provide a better solution for the

surrounding area and also the NET Tower Surabaya. Furthermore, combination of architecture and
wind environmental condition is never been easy and sometimes is very challenging.
FUTURE RESEARCH
Wind flow and turbulence within the urban canopy layer can influence the heating and ventilation of
buildings, affecting the health and comfort of pedestrians, commuters and building occupants
(Vardoulakis et.al, 2011). Architects have suggested that the architectural design, layout and
decorations of the base of tall buildings should particularly respond to human scale. The design of the
base should be tailored to basic human needs so that it provides protection from adversely reflected
winds, rain, snow and hot sun. Whyte explained that various building ordinances and rules require
developers to include plazas in their design. However, they were wind-blown and frequently vacant
(Whyte, 1980). With regards to environmental factors such as ventilation, noise and thermal comfort,
Lim (1994) finds that these are generally acceptable in Singapore’s high-rise public housing. As high-
rise buildings tend to be tall and narrow, they should be designed such that when subjected to strong
winds, the vibrations should not become unacceptable in terms of serviceability and safety (Balendra,
1993).
CONCLUSION
This paper has presented and described the use of the CFD simulation to help with the architecture,
urban environment, and comfort of the surrounding area. The use of CFD on assessing the building
design and optimisation based on the engineering point of view had been demonstrated through this
case study. The following conclusion can be made that CFD will be very useful and can become a
very power tool for helping to design a high rise building and this can help the designer, authority and
developer.
REFERENCES
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automatic control system.” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 92(10), 849–873.
[3] Emil, S. and Robert, S. (1996). Wind Effects on Structures. John Wiley and Sons, Canada.
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CFD simulation for predicting the wind effect on the high rise building: NET Tower Surabaya

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CFD simulation for predicting the wind effect on the high rise building: NET Tower Surabaya