Experimental Study of Airflow Around the Syracuse CoE Building

The Center of Excellence (CoE) in Environmental and Energy Building in Syracuse is currently under construction and is planned for completion in 2009. In this study, wind tunnel experiments of the CoE Building were performed. A 3D CAD model was created from architectural blueprints and was used to create a scale (1/16^th inch = 1 foot) physical model using the stereo-lithography techniques. The details of the building structure were captured in the model for features with characteristic lengths greater than 1% of the building height. The physical model included 54 surface pressure taps located over the model’s exterior surface. The model was installed on a turntable built into the floor of the wind tunnel. Pressure measurements were taken at several wind speeds for different wind directions. PIV measurements were performed in 2 planes for the same wind directions and speeds. From the PIV measurements, 2D mean and root-mean square (RMS) velocities mean and RMS vorticity were calculated. The experimental data was compared with the computer simulation study and good agreement was found.