Potential application of double skin facade incorporating aerodynamic modifications for wind energy harvesting

To maximise the potential of decentralized micro-grid wind energy generation in urban environments, it is vital to develop techniques to enhance the flow characteristics in urban environments. This paper reports on an investigation of a new method of exploiting wind energy by utilizing a modified innovative Double Skin Facade (DSF) system. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation has been employed to investigate the effect of aerodynamic modifications, including recessed regions and curved walls, on the flow characteristics inside an empty corridor-type DSF for different wind directions. CFD results were validated against a series of wind tunnel tests. The results indicate that, compared with the original DSF, the modifications are capable of significantly enhancing the flow velocity inside the DSF at all wind directions, especially when the direction of the upstream wind aligns with the flow direction inside the DSF. The results also show the contribution of the confined area in diminishing the variations in velocity and reducing turbulence by a maximum of about 30%. It is concluded that the average available wind power density of an empty corridor-type DSF can be increased by a factor of 2 and 4.2, respectively, by creating recessed regions and curved walls.