4.8 - Wind-Driven Rain On Building Facades - Part 2

© 2014, Bert Blocken, Eindhoven University of Technology.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

means without the prior written permission of the author.
MODULE QUESTION - 1
Consider four buildings, exposed to the same wind and rain conditions. Every
building will receive the highest wind-driven rain (WDR) intensity at its top corner
position (nr. 1). Which of these four buildings receives the highest WDR intensity?
A) Low-rise cubic building
B) Wide building slab 20 m
C) High and wide building slab 50 m
D) Tower 10 m 100 m
1 2
1 2
1 2 10 m 1 2 20 m
60 m
80 m
10 m 10 m
ABL power law 10 m

P = 0.15
ABL power law 20 m

P = 0.15
ABL power law
P = 0.15
ABL power law
P = 0.15
MODULE QUESTION - 2
Open question: if wind-driven rain impinges on the windward impervious facade of a
building, the rain runs down along the facade and accumulates on its way down,
one could expect very high runoff rates, actually allowing one to take shower at the
bottom of a high-rise building facade. Why does this not happen in reality?
LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR MODULE 8
At the end of this module, you will:

• Understand how assessment of wind-driven rain is performed
• Understand the wetting patterns on building facades
Wind-driven rain: assessment methods
1. Measurements
2. Semi-empirical formulae
3. Numerical simulation with CFD
Measurements
Measurement principle is very simple, but measurements are very prone to errors.
From: Svendsen (1955)

Measurements: advantages and disadvantages
Measurements: advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
- Real complexity can be taken into account
Disadvantages
- Uncontrollable meteorological conditions
- Measurements are very prone to error
- Results only valid for particular building and meteorological conditions
- Limited number of measurement positions
Measurements: special case: wind-tunnel measurements
Wind-tunnel measurements of WDR by Inculet and Surry at the Boundary Layer Wind
Tunnel Laboratory at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Spray nozzles
Wind-tunnel measurements of WDR by Inculet and Surry at the Boundary Layer Wind
Tunnel Laboratory at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Water-sensitive paper turns blue

after contact with water
 Stains can be sized and

counted to determine WDR
intensities
Advantages
- Control over measurement conditions
- Measurements at all positions across building facades
Disadvantages
- Scaling of raindrop spectra
- Measurements are very labor-intensive
Semi-empirical formulae
Rwdr =  U Rh cos (Hoppestad 1955, Lacy 1965)
Where:
Rwdr = wind-driven rain intensity (mm/h)

= wind-driven rain coefficient (s/m)
U= wind speed (at a given height) (m/s)
Rh = horizontal rainfall intensity (mm/h)
= angle between wind direction and normal to the wall (°)

4000 3675 2900 2650 1725 1350
1.4
0.1 mm/hr
probability density of raindrop size

1.2 1 mm/hr
5 mm/hr
1 10 mm/hr
50 mm/hr
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
drop diameter d (mm)
European Standard Draft PrEN 13013-3 (CEN 1997, Chris Sanders 1996)
ISO Standard. Hygrothermal performance of buildings – calculation and presentation of

climatic data – Part 3: calculation of a driving rain index for vertical surfaces from
hourly wind and rain data. ISO 2009;15927-3. International Organization for
Standardization; 2009.
Advantages
- Simple formula, easy to use and implement in Heat-Air-Moisture transfer models
- Suitable for Standardization because of ease-of-use
Disadvantages
- Only rough estimates can be obtained
- WDR coefficients only available for limited number of building geometries …
- … and positions on building facades
- Validation / verification is lacking
 reason to turn to numerical simulation with CFD

Computational Fluid Dynamics
5-step methodology (Choi 1991, 1993, 1994, Blocken & Carmeliet 2002):
1. Steady-state wind flow pattern (CFD)

2. Raindrop trajectories
R wdr (d) A h (d)

3. Specific catch ratio η d (d)  
R h (d) Af
R wdr S wdr
4. Catch ratio η  
Rh Sh
5. Meteorological data records → transient wind-driven rain distribution

Advantages
- Control over boundary conditions
- Results at all positions across building facades (“whole flow-field data”)
Disadvantages
- Solution verification and validation are required
(time-consuming, expensive but imperative!)
Application for VLIET test building, Leuven, Flanders, Belgium
Details can be found in:
new meteorological old meteorological

meteorological
mast mast
mast
12.5 m
rain gauge behind
wind shield 20 m
2m
SW
new meteorological old meteorological

meteorological
mast mast
mast
12.5 m
rain gauge behind
wind shield 20 m
2m
SW
CFD: Application for VLIET test building, Leuven, Flanders, Belgium
Building geometry
Surroundings (view of terrain SW of building)
Validation of wind-flow pattern: sub-configuration validation
Model validation for cubic building model (experimental data from literature)
Validation of wind-flow pattern: sub-configuration validation
Model application for VLIET test building
1,017,518 cells
Simulation of wind-flow pattern
3D steady RANS with realizable k- model (Shih et al. 1995) and standard wall functions
(Launder and Spalding 1974) modified for roughness (Cebeci and Bradshaw 1977) with
sand-grain roughness parameters by Blocken et al. (2007).
Grid based on grid-sensitivity analysis
Segregated, steady, implicit, double precision solver
Pressure interpolation: standard
2° order discretization schemes
Raindrop trajectories
U10 = 10 m/s, d = 1 mm
U10 = 10 m/s, d = 5 mm
Cumulative wind-driven rain at gauge 13
(Measurement error estimate: 0.8 mm)
Spatial distribution of catch ratio across facade at end of rain event
(b) NUMERICAL 0.6

RESULTS
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.49 0.49
0.21 0.13 0.20 0.37 0.38 0.42 0.2
0.34 0.23 0.27 0.31 0.31 0.36
0.1
0.29 0.21 0.23 0.25 0.26 0.31
0
(Measurement error estimate: 0.05)
CFD: Application for different building configurations
20 m
50 m
1 2
10 m 100 m
1 2
1 2 10 m 1 2 20 m
60 m
80 m
10 m 10 m
ABL power law 10 m

P = 0.15
ABL power law 20 m

P = 0.15
ABL power law
P = 0.15
ABL power law
P = 0.15
Low-rise cubic building 1.72


Wide medium-rise slab 1.45

High-rise slab 1.14

High-rise slab 1.14
Tower building 1.45
Counter-intuitive results Low-rise cubic building 1.72

High-rise slab 1.14
Statements: Tower building 1.45
Wind speed increases with height
 The higher the building, the higher the wind speed at the top of the building
 The higher the wind speed, the more wind-driven rain
But that is not what seems to happen in reality…
What happens is the wind-blocking effect

(cfr. V-shaped building configurations) Low-rise cubic building 1.72
(subsonic upstream disturbance) Wide medium-rise slab 1.45
High-rise slab 1.14
Tower building 1.45

High-rise slab 1.14
Tower building 1.45

High-rise slab 1.14
Tower building 1.45
U10 = 10 m/s, d = 1 mm
MODULE QUESTION - 1
Consider four buildings, exposed to the same wind and rain conditions. Every
building will receive the highest wind-driven rain (WDR) intensity at its top corner
position (nr. 1). Which of these four buildings receives the highest WDR intensity?
A) Low-rise cubic building
B) Wide building slab 20 m
C) High and wide building slab 50 m
D) Tower 10 m 100 m
1 2
1 2
1 2 10 m 1 2 20 m
60 m
80 m
10 m 10 m
ABL power law 10 m

P = 0.15
ABL power law 20 m

P = 0.15
ABL power law
P = 0.15
ABL power law
P = 0.15
MODULE QUESTION - 2
Open question: if wind-driven rain impinges on the windward impervious facade of a
building, the rain runs down along the facade and accumulates on its way down,
one could expect very high runoff rates, actually allowing one to take shower at the
bottom of a high-rise building facade. Why does this not happen in reality?
In this module, we have learned about:
• How assessment of wind-driven rain is performed

• The wetting patterns on building facades
In the next module, we will focus on:
• Advantages and disadvantages of wind energy harvesting in the built environment

• Common misconceptions about wind energy in the built environment

4.8 - Wind-Driven Rain On Building Facades - Part 2

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© 2014, Bert Blocken, Eindhoven University of Technology.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

ABL power law 10 m

ABL power law 20 m

At the end of this module, you will:

From: Svendsen (1955)

Water-sensitive paper turns blue

 Stains can be sized and

Rwdr =  U Rh cos (Hoppestad 1955, Lacy 1965)

Rwdr = wind-driven rain intensity (mm/h)

Rwdr =  U Rh cos (Hoppestad 1955, Lacy 1965)

4000 3675 2900 2650 1725 1350

probability density of raindrop size

Rwdr =  U Rh cos (Hoppestad 1955, Lacy 1965)

ISO Standard. Hygrothermal performance of buildings – calculation and presentation of

 reason to turn to numerical simulation with CFD

1. Steady-state wind flow pattern (CFD)

R wdr (d) A h (d)

5. Meteorological data records → transient wind-driven rain distribution

new meteorological old meteorological

new meteorological old meteorological

Model application for VLIET test building

(b) NUMERICAL 0.6

ABL power law 10 m

ABL power law 20 m

Low-rise cubic building 1.72

Low-rise cubic building 1.72

Low-rise cubic building 1.72

Low-rise cubic building 1.72

Counter-intuitive results Low-rise cubic building 1.72

What happens is the wind-blocking effect

What happens is the wind-blocking effect

What happens is the wind-blocking effect

ABL power law 10 m

ABL power law 20 m

• How assessment of wind-driven rain is performed

• Advantages and disadvantages of wind energy harvesting in the built environment

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