Author(s)

M. I. Farouk, S. A. Mourad & A. S. Salaheldin

Abstract

Determination of wind action on high structures with special importance presents a major challenge for civil engineers. Different methods are used to calculate the wind action; simplified method, analytical method, numerical method and experimental method. In this research a three-dimensional numerical model was developed using Computational Fluid Dynamics \“CFD” software to study the wind action on a New Airport Air Traffic Control Tower. The tower is nearly 107m high, comprises 15 ring beams and is located in an open area. The maximum wind speed used was based on the measured wind data for the structure location. The case study was solved as time-dependent, threedimensional and turbulent flow. A numerical simulation using 1.4 million hexahedral elements was developed. Pressure and viscous forces were determined on the entire tower and on each individual ring beam along the tower. The values and the locations of the maximum pressure and tension stresses were precisely specified. The results show that the maximum negative stresses (suction) are nearly twice the maximum positive stresses (pressure). In addition the forces and the moments acting on any ring beam calculated by the numerical simulation are nearly 65% less than those calculated by the code. Keywords: computational fluid mechanics, wind exposure, numerical simulation of wind flow, control tower.

Keywords

computational fluid mechanics, wind exposure, numerical simulationof wind flow, control tower.