Dome-Shaped Building

Description

This project uses ANSYS Fluent to simulate combined convective and radiative heat transfer inside a dome-shaped mosque building, applying the radiation module to capture solar heating effects. The building's indoor thermal environment is driven by solar radiation on the sidewalls, roof, and dome, along with a ground-floor heat source, making it a representative case for radiation-influenced indoor climate analysis in architectural CFD.

Methodology

The 3D geometry is built in SpaceClaim and meshed in ANSYS Meshing using an unstructured grid of 674,066 elements. Convective heat transfer at the sidewalls, roof, and dome is modeled against a surrounding ambient temperature of 309 K with a heat transfer coefficient of 10 W/m²K, while the mosque floor (20 cm thick) receives an applied heat flux of 30 W/m². Radiative heat transfer is captured using the Rosseland radiation model, suited to surfaces and materials with high absorption coefficients, with an absorption coefficient of 0.8 assumed for the building surfaces. The solar load model is used to represent the effect of incoming solar radiation. Since the focus is on internal heat transfer rather than external flow, no inlet or outlet boundary conditions are required.

Conclusion

Results include 2D (YZ and XZ sections through the building center) and 3D contours of temperature, pressure, and velocity, along with velocity vector fields. The temperature distribution reflects the combined effects of radiation and floor heating, while the velocity vectors reveal internal airflow circulation, with the strongest vortex forming in the dome region due to its direct exposure to solar radiation.