variavel0=<b>GILDA LÚCIA BAKKER B. DE MENEZES</b> - gildamenezes@uol.com.br UFRN
<b>ZENAIDE ALVES DE ARAÚJO</b> - zenaide@dem.ufrn.br UFRN
<b>ÂNGELO RONCALLI OLIVEIRA GUERRA</b> - angelo@reitoria.ufrn.br 
<b>Abstract.</b> This work reports the simulation of the wind flow around buildings, and its primary goal is the characterization of the flow field to structurals or pedestrian confort studies. The Reynolds Number is of the power of 10^6. Due to the three-dimensional problem complexity, flow sections have been studied, turning, this analysis, two-dimensional. The buildings are simulated by using the Panels Method with distributed sources. On the other hand, the flow, considered to be incompressible, is simulated through the Vortex Method, that uses a Lagrangian description of the flow field.   The Lamb vortex approach was considered over the whole surface of the bodies and the set of vortex is under convection action following a scheme that uses the Euler equations, first-order time-marching, and  Adams-Bashforth, second-order time-marching. The vortex diffusion is made by the Random Walk Method. The drag coefficients are calculated by pressure gradient integration. The simulation makes use of a previously published and reliable computer code as its backgroung. The former computer code has been exhaustively tested for the case of an isolated circular cylinder. The obtained results show good accordance with the results found in the literature and have been modeled through Virtual Reality, used in this situation, as one more option of graphic visualization tool.
<b>Keywords.</b> Vortex Method, incompressible flow, aerodynamic forces, buildings, Virtual Reality.