Vortex formation and flow separation on a scaled low-rise building model*

Damage to low-rise buildings' roofs during hurricane and tornado events seriously threatens community resilience to strong-wind related natural disasters. Peak negative pressures occur due to flow separation and vortex formation on roof edges and corners. Cost-effective flow control strategies to change the aerodynamics of wind around the roof to mitigate such damages are of great importance. We present experimental results of a scaled low-rise building model tested in a boundary layer wind tunnel. We observe flow dynamics and vortex formation through particle image velocimetry (PIV) for various building configurations at Reynolds number of 3800. Moreover, we consider the effects of the incoming wind direction on flow physics at 45° and 90°. These results allow for exploring flow control strategies, for example, fractal patterns in Nature, as a potential method to mitigate strong wind damage.