Wind tunnel testing
In recent years, we have identified the need to tackle an analytical study of wind effects and their interaction with structures specifically. This enables both to delve into the quantification of wind action and study comfort conditions.
The design of increasingly slender, light and geometrically more complex structures, along with the need to study those structures during the construction process (including auxiliary means) hampers the quantification of wind action. Comfort inside and in the vicinity of these structures is also a complex and increasingly important task in the early stages of a project.
A very effective option to address these problems is to use computational tools such as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). At INES, we count with expert technicians in this field who make it is possible to tackle the following studies:
Wind comfort studies.
First of all, there is the possibility of modeling real wind situations in open and closed spaces, and thus evaluate the comfort degree by controlling mean wind speed and gust wind speed, together with its probability of occurrence in critical points, gateways, terraces, etc. Secondly, we can simulate climate conditions in open or closed spaces. Considering that control devices can be set up in the analysis phase, and taking into account the fact that radiation and convection can be jointly analyzed, optimization of HVAC systems is feasible.
Comfort studies infography
Virtual wind tunnel studies
Use of this CFD tool enables to conduct full-scale aerodynamic simulations.
Through this study, wind flow around full-scale models of buildings, bridges and other civil engineering works can be simulated. This analysis enables to study the impact of the structure on the air behavior, which allows for turbulence volumetric rendering and the analysis of pollution particles transport. In addition to this, thanks to this analysis, our experts are able to measure wind loads on structures and obtain the pressure coefficient on their surfaces, providing average pressure distributions and transient data on maximum and minimum peaks.
Analytical expressions can be entered into the virtual wind tunnel in order to describe the wind profile or adjust the intensity of air turbulence at the entrance. This, combined with the ease of virtually introducing minor changes in the geometries, results in an analysis and simulation at a minimun cost. This virtual analysis means more than a mere alternative to the experimental wind tunnel and provides a better insight into why slight variations in design models affect their performance drastically.