Wind-Induced Ground-Surface Pressures Around a Single-Family House

Wind induces a ground-surface pressure field around a building that can substantially affect the flow of soil gas and thereby the entry of radon and other soil-gas contaminants into the building. To quantify the effect of the wind-induced ground-surface pressure field on contaminant entry rates, the mean ground-surface pressure field was experimentally measured in a wind tunnel for several incidence angles of the wind, two atmospheric boundary layers, and two house geometries. The experimentally measured ground-surface pressure fields are compared with those predicted by a κ−ε turbulence model. Despite the fundamental limitations in applying a κ−ε model to a system with flow separation, predictions from the numerical simulations were good for the two wind incidence angles tested.