Quantifying Structural Snow Loads Using the Finite Area Element Method: A Comparison between Physical Wind Tunnel and Computational Fluid Dynamics Input Data

For current structural snow loading modeling, scale model wind tunnel tests are commonly conducted to gather bulk wind flow data across building roofs. While the wind tunnel data are reliable, collecting high-resolution data is constrained by the size of wind sensors and building geometry. This study employs computational fluid dynamics simulations, specifically using the Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) turbulence model, to develop a cost-effective method for generating high-resolution input flow fields for RWDI’s snow loading software. A well-understood building with bluff body aerodynamics was chosen, and both a scale model wind tunnel test and a numerical model RANS simulation were conducted. The computational fluid dynamics model attains higher-resolution data than wind tunnel by directly resolving the mean flow at every grid node, correcting some post-processing artifacts. Snow-related structural loads are generally within 10% in most areas. Limitations in the computational fluid dynamics method include discrepancies in snow loads in regions with strong wind recirculation, to be addressed in future large eddy simulation computations.