Atmospheric Flows Research Group

The Department of Fluid Mechanics has decades of experience in conducting wind tunnel model experiments, including in the field of environmental flows. The research group uses and develops the wind tunnel laboratory of the Department of Fluid Mechanics, which thus provides an opportunity to validate the numerical simulation results with wind tunnel model experiments. Flow with the required characteristics in wind tunnels can be created, with which technical and environmental processes can be modeled and important parameters can be determined: emission levels, transient velocity, concentration field, pressure distributions, forces, torques, and flow patterns. Wind tunnel measurement results are regularly used to predict the dispersion of particulate and gaseous pollutants from power plants and industrial facilities, conduct environmental impact studies, design traffic junctions, scale structures, and buildings, and support urban planning. Another main activity of the research group is the development of numerical models suitable for investigating atmospheric flows, including effects (such as Coriolis force and atmospheric stratification) that become significant in large domains. We have developed unique software solutions for the production of model geometry and a numerical mesh of complex topography and urban surface, as well as for the study of the efficiency of urban ventilation. We are developing atmospheric applications of scale-resolving models, which, in addition to air quality and urban climate studies, are used in technical practice to determine the forces and force fluctuations acting on built structures.