Influence of non-uniform surfaces caused by shading in different layouts on the wind–thermal environment of a building complex

Abstract

In the high-density building complex, the non-uniform distribution of surface temperature caused by building shading could directly affect the wind–thermal environment. Additionally, the periodicity of meteorological parameters and stochastic nature of the heterogeneous characteristics of the building complex further exacerbate the non-uniform distribution. However, previous studies have often simplified this process by assuming uniform conditions, resulting in inaccurate wind–thermal predictions. Therefore, this study aimed to quantify the ventilation performance characteristics of complex building layouts under different meteorological conditions using a transient numerical simulation method coupling radiation and convection. The results of the flow ratio analysis demonstrated that the ventilation flow ratios fluctuate with the intensity of direct solar radiation, and the amplitude of these fluctuations was shown to decrease with increasing wind velocity. The recirculation flow ratio in the enclosed layout was notably higher, ranging from 1.12 to 2.21 times that of the dotted layout. In addition, the proportion of static wind areas in the dotted layout was reduced by up to 14% in summer and up to 15% in winter for incoming wind velocities between 1 m/s and 3 m/s compared to the enclosed layout.