Modeling of an integrated wind energy building

This study presents the design and modeling of an integrated wind energy building. It is proposed that a building be constructed with an integral wind turbine that takes advantage of the funneling of wind from the building structure and the low pressure area above or leeward of the building. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to evaluate different building geometries and wind potentials. Preliminary investigations using two dimensional numerical modeling in both the horizontal and vertical planes are presented. Three dimensional analyses are also presented of promising geometries from the two dimensional preliminary results. While additional modeling efforts will be necessary to optimize this system, results indicate a significant improvement in performance over free standing turbines, allowing for utilization of wind power in geographic regions that have traditionally not been feasible.