FloWizard Conjures up the Atomium
By Corine Chauvin, Fluent Benelux
In urban architecture , a study of the flow around a proposed new building is an important step prior to construction. In particular, the intensity of the wind at human height (2m) near the base of the building is a key component to pedestrian comfort.
FloWizard now makes it easy to accomplish such simulations quickly. The building geometry can be taken from the architect's CAD software, loaded into FloWizard, and the flow region around the building will be automatically created and meshed. By specifying the wind speed and direction, the flow conditions in various regions can be readily determined.
Mesh on the Atomium building and contours of pressure on the surface |
Velocity vectors on the central cutting plane show regions of recirculation |
As an example, the airflow around one of the most famous European monuments, the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium, has been computed. This structure, with a total height of 100 meters, was built in 1958 for the Brussels World's Fair. It is a representation of iron atoms in a unit cell (a repeating structure in a solid). At the time of its construction, experimental studies were performed in a wind tunnel to test the wind loads for a variety of conditions. What took months of physical testing back then can now be done using FloWizard in only a few hours!
The Atomium monument in Brussels |
The challenge for the CFD simulation was to capture the airflow around the arms of the monument, and behind the spheres. At the inlet to the simulation domain, a large rectangular volume containing the monument, a normal constant velocity of 10m/s (22mph) was applied. A fine mesh with a boundary layer near the walls was used along with the realizable k-ε turbulence model. After a few hours of run time, a solution was generated. It showed a low velocity region behind the building and local recirculation zones under the building and behind the spheres. As the millions of visitors who have visited the monument over the years would agree, the wind currents near the base were not found to cause extreme discomfort.
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