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Numerical Evaluation Of Aerodynamic Roughness Of The Built Environment And Complex Terrain, Daniel S. Abdi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Aerodynamic drag in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is affected by the structure and density of obstacles (surface roughness) and nature of the terrain (topography). In building codes and standards, average roughness is usually determined somewhat subjectively by examination of aerial photographs. For detailed wind mapping, boundary layer wind tunnel (BLWT) testing is usually recommended. This may not be cost effective for many projects, in which case numerical studies become good alternatives. This thesis examines Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for evaluation of aerodynamic roughness of the built environment and complex terrain.

The present study started from development of an in-house …