The purpose of the paper is to examine the relation between urban morphology, wind direction and air flow rates. In the study a highly idealized city model was used consisting of a circular block divided into two or four equally large sectors. Wind tunnel experiments and CFD predictions have been conducted. The interaction between the atmospheric boundary layer and a city is considered to be both a function of the overall shape and the internal resistance to the flow caused by the friction when the wind flows over the urban surfaces. Flow along the streets is generated by pressure differences. In the wind tunnel, velocity measurements have been recorded in the streets at several points and pressure on the ground was registered in 400 points. The wind tunnel measurements were used to validate the CFD model. The CFD predictions provided complete flow and pressure fields for different configurations and wind directions. The flow balance is presented considering both the horizontal air flow and the vertical air flow (subsidence and updraft). Special attention was on the pressure distribution at ground level (pressure footprint), which is believed to provide valuable information that can be used for qualitative city ventilation analyses. 

Here, it is presented a possible methodology and experimental model for benchmarking of air quality in cities. The concept behind the methodology is that a city’s inherent structure affects the potential for contaminant removal due to the resistance it poses to inflow. The approach is based on homogenous emission across the street surface network, representing a worst-case situation. Different levels of complexity can be used for benchmarking, making it valuable for evaluating different layouts. Additionally, an urban ventilation index suitable for these kinds of experimental studies has been suggested. 

City breathability refers to the air exchange process between the flows above and within urban canopy layers (UCL) and that of in-canopy flow, measuring the potential of wind to remove and dilute pollutants, heat and other scalars in a city. Bulk flow parameters such as in-canopy velocity (Uc) and exchange velocity (UE) have been applied to evaluate the city breathability. Both wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were used to study the flow adjustment and the variation of city breathability through urban-like models with different building packing densities. We experimentally studied some 25-row and 15-column aligned cubic building arrays (the building width B=72 mm and building heights H=B) in a closed-circuit boundary layer wind tunnel. Effect of building packing densities (λp=λf=0.11, 0.25, 0.44) on flow adjustment and drag force of each buildings were measured. Wind tunnel data show that wind speed decreases quickly through building arrays due to strong building drag. The first upstream building induces the strongest flow resistance. The flow adjustment length varies slightly with building packing densities. Larger building packing density produces lower drag force by individual buildings and attains smaller velocity in urban canopy layers, which causes weaker city breathability capacity. In CFD simulations, we performed seven test cases with various building packing densities of λp=λf=0.0625, 0.11, 0.25, 0.36, 0.44 and 0.56. In the cases of λp=λf=0.11, 0.25, 0.44, the simulated profiles of velocity and drag force agree with experiment data well. We computed Uc and UE, which represent horizontal and vertical ventilation capacity respectively. The inlet velocity at 2.5 times building height in the upstream free flow is defined as the reference velocity Uref. Results show that UE/Uref changes slightly (1.1% to 0.7%) but Uc/Uref significantly decreases from 0.4 to 0.1 as building packing densities rise from 0.0625 to 0.56. Although UE is induced by both mean flows and turbulent momentum flux across the top surface of urban canopy, vertical turbulent diffusion is found to contribute mostly to UE.

Improving city breathability has been confirmed as one feasible measure to improve pollutant dilution in the urban canopy layer (UCL). Building height variability enhances vertical mixing, but its impacts remain not completely explored. Therefore, both wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations are used to investigate the effect of building height variations (six height standard deviations σH = 0%–77.8%) associated to building packing densities namely λp/λf = 0.25/0.375 (medium-density) and 0.44/0.67 (compact) on city breathability. Two bulk variables (i.e. the in-canopy velocity (UC) and exchange velocity (UE)) are adopted to quantify the horizontal and vertical city breathability respectively, which are normalized by the reference velocity (Uref) in the free flow, typically set at z = 2.5H0 where H0 is the mean building height. Both flow quantities and city breathability experience a flow adjustment process, then reach a balance. The adjustment distance is at least three times longer than four rows documented in previous literature. The medium-density arrays experience much larger UC and UE than the compact ones. UE is found mainly induced by vertical turbulent fluxes, instead of vertical mean flows. In height-variation cases, taller buildings experience larger drag force and city breathability than lower buildings and those in uniform-height cases. For medium-density and compact models with uniform height, the balanced UC/Uref are 0.124 and 0.105 respectively, moreover the balanced UE/Uref are 0.0078 and 0.0065. In contrast, the average UC/Uref in height-variation cases are larger (115.3%–139.5% and 125.7%–141.9% of uniform-height cases) but UE/Uref are smaller (74.4%–79.5% and 61.5%–86.2% of uniform-height cases) for medium-density and compact models. 

Measurements of the unsteady flow in a ventilation stack of a school have been made at model scale in an environmental wind tunnel. The results confirm the expectation that the stack is well-sited, in that it was difficult to induce flow reversal except over a narrow range of wind directions and the amount of reversal was small (reversal percentage < 5 %). The results also show that the technique is capable of reliably detecting such small reversal percentages.

We regarded high-rise cities as obstacles and channels to wind. We first studied wind conditions and ventilations in idealized high-rise long street models experimentally and numerically with a constant street width (W = 30 mm), variable street heights (H = 2 W, 2.5W, 3W, 4W), variable street lengths (L = 47.4W, 79W. 333W, 667W) and a parallel approaching wind. The flow rates penetrating into windward entries are a little larger than the reference flow rate in the far upstream free flow through the same area with windward entries in all models. The stream-wise velocity decreases along the street as some air leaves upwardly across street roofs. Near the leeward entry, there is a downward flow which brings some air into the street and results in an accelerating process. In the neighborhood scale long streets (L = 47.4W and 79W), wind in taller streets is stronger and the ventilation is better than a lower one. For the city scale long streets (L = 333W and 667W), a constant flow region exists where the vertical velocity is zero and the stream-wise velocity remains constant. In such regions, turbulent fluctuations across the street roof are more important to air exchange than vertical mean flows. In a taller street, the process to establish the constant flow conditions is longer and the normalized balanced horizontal flow rate is smaller than those in a lower street. In the city scale long streets, the turbulence exchange rate can be 5-10 times greater than the mean flow rate. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

It is an open question whether a street network of a city has a certain flow capacity characterizing the flow that can pass through the street network. It s our hypothesis that at least the simple street network has a certain flow capacity. With the purpose of exploring this we studied numerically and experimentally the flow capacity in some idealized long-street models continuously lined with buildings and exposed to a parallel approaching wind. The height of all the models is the same (H = 69 mm). Three groups of models were studied: models with the same uniform street width (W = H) but different lengths (L = 21.7H, 43.5H, 72.5H); models with the same length (L = 43.5H) but different uniform width (W = H, 2H, 4H); and models with a change of width at half distance, L/2. In the last of the three cases, the width of the upstream half was always the same (W1 = H), but there was a wider (W2 = 1.25H, 1.5H, 2H) or narrower (W2 = 0.75H, 0.5H) downstream half. We normalized flow rates by a reference flow rate equal to the flow rate through an opening far upstream with the same area as the windward entry. The normalized flow rate through the windward entry was about 1.0 in all cases. For a sufficiently long-street models, a flow balance is established, creating a fully developed region with a constant horizontal flow (flow capacity) and zero vertical mean velocity. The street length does not affect the flow capacity but as expected the width of the street affects the flow capacity.

The mechanism of pollutant dispersion in idealized city models is investigated numerically by the introduction of a uniformly distributed pollutant source at street pedestrian level. We first study three short city forms with a single main street or two crossing streets, characterized by street length/street height ratios of L/H = 6 or 7 and a street height/street width ratio of H/W = 1, including a sharp-edged round city model, a smooth-edged round city model, and a sharp-edged square city model. For short city models with a single street and a parallel approaching wind, pollutant dilution mainly depends on the horizontal flow rate which decreases along the street. This decreasing rate is smallest for the smooth-edged round city model, which results in the lowest street concentrations. For city models with two crossing streets and the approaching wind parallel to the main street, the differences in overall city form result in different dispersion processes. For a sharp-edged round city model with two crossing streets, an approaching wind slightly non-parallel to the main street generates a lower pollutant concentration in the entire street volume. We also studied a sharp-edged round city model with one narrow street (L/H = 6; H/W = 6.7), finding that the uniformly distributed pollutants are transported from two street entries to the city centre, and are then removed out across the street roof. In contrast to the short city models we studied a single-street sharp-edged long rectangular city model (L/H = 21.7; H/W = 1) in which the horizontal flow rate remained nearly constant in a region far from the two entries. Within this region the turbulence across the street roof contributed more to the pollutant removal than vertical mean flows.

Cross-ventilation is a complicated flow problem and difficult to control because wind exhibits a large degree of variation. The paper focuses on three items: a) to clarify and understand some of the basic characteristics of airflow as the influence of the opening size on the windward vortex and the leeward wake; b) to explore what information about the flow above the ground can be retrieved from pressure measurements on the ground; and c) to explore the accuracy of CFD. To meet these objectives, wind tunnel tests and CFD analyses were carried out. The studied object was a detached-house model provided with two openings. The size of these openings was changed in a wide range from narrow cracks to large openings. In the experiments, pressure measurements on the ground and PIV measurements were made. The internal flow was visualized with the sand erosion method. Pressure measurement on a floor surface is a relatively easy and an inexpensive method. In this experiment, the windward and leeward areas in particular were investigated to understand flow pattern and to confirm correspondence between flow pattern and recorded pressure on the ground. Those measurements show the difference in flow at different size openings in terms of the vortex on the windward side and the wake. When the size of the opening exceeded a certain value the near wake on the leeward side disappeared and on the windward side the vortex disappeared. The pressure distribution, flow pattern, and velocity profile are shown and compared between measurement and CFD.

The Reynolds number independence (Re independence) criterion of Re > 11,000 is widely adopted to fulfill the dynamic similarity between the urban flow modeling and the down-scale measurements. However, for 2D street canyons with H/W ≥ 1.5, experiments, numerical simulations, and in-situ observations have reported different vortex-flow regimes with similar building configurations but at different scales. This study uses both wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations to revisit the Re-independent flow regimes and Re independence criteria with an extensive Re range for idealized 2D street canyons with various aspect ratios (H/W = 1.1, 2.4, 3, 4, and 5). We introduced an optimized ratio of relative changes (RRCs) to evaluate the flow regimes’ similarity. The wind tunnel experiment confirms that the cavity flow with H/W = 1.1 meets the Re independence when reference building Re (Reref) exceeds 11,000. Simulations validated by the experiment results are conducted to investigate detailed flow regimes and the critical Re (Rec) range for each aspect ratio. The canyons with H/W = 2.4, 3, and 4 are dominated by a single asymmetric vortex when the Re independence is satisfied, while there are two vertically-stacked counter-rotating vortices in the canyon with H/W = 5. The value range of Rec increases with aspect ratio from 1.9 × 104–2.6 × 104 (H/W = 2.4) to 1.3 × 105–2.1 × 105 (H/W = 3), and 2.1 × 106–6.4 × 106 (H/W = 4 and 5). Our results indicate that the fully Re-independent flow regimes in deep canyons have fewer vortices than the literature value with down-scale experiments and simulations. The variant Rec with different aspect ratios suggests the requirement to conduct the Re-independence test for different model configurations.

As a preliminary investigation of the wind-driven purging process for densely built environments through the canopy layer, the ventilation efficiency of standalone semi-enclosed models incorporating a horizontal opening in the roof façade was investigated in the wind tunnel. For comparison, two models with different geometries were constructed, and each model was tested individually. Both models were equipped with replaceable roof covers, enabling the adjustment to the opening size. The ventilation efficiency was evaluated by continuous releasing and sampling of the tracer gas, from which the normalized purging velocity (PFVn) was derived. Additionally, the flow condition over the opening was monitored using the Laser Doppler Anemometer. It was found that separation flows from the frontal edge(s) of the model could introduce secondary circulations across large openings, resulting in dramatic increases in PFVn. Both the rectangular prism model and cylinder model possessed higher PFVn compared to prior studies on single-sided ventilation, while close values were observed with cylinder model mounted under the wind tunnel floor. Besides, the vertical distribution of integral length scales of streamwise velocity indicated the stratification feature of separation flows under low-turbulent incoming flow conditions. Measurement results provide validation data for further simulation studies including more detailed structures.

Raw data will successively be uploaded here for the study "Wind tunnel and numerical study of wind pressure coefficients on amedieval Swedish church".

Air infiltration has great importance regarding energy, comfort, moisture and dust deposition in naturally ventilated historical buildings like churches. In these buildings, air infiltration is driven by stack effect and wind. When assessing the wind effect, reasonable estimation of wind pressure coefficients is crucial. Local wind pressure coefficients are significantly affected by the shape of the building and turbulence generated by its geometrical features, which – for moderately large churches – typically consist of main building body and window recesses, gable roof, tower, apse, and sacristy. To yield practically useful pressure coefficients, this study conducted wind tunnel and numerical investigations at a church, with gradual addition of these features. Wind pressure was measured on a small-scale model in a wind tunnel, while computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out for both small-scale and full-scale models. By comparing the experimental and numerical results, the SST k–ω turbulence model showed the best accuracy, yielding CFD results in good agreement with wind tunnel measurements. Most challenging was predicting the strong negative wind pressures occurring on a flat roof. Building structures like tower, apse, and sacristy had significant impact on the wind pressures on the central, main building body. This study adds knowledge on wind pressure effects by commonly occurring building components, with particular reference to churches and similar buildings. It was an important basis for developing further models for calculating the wind pressure coefficient.

The air leakage of the building envelope of ancient churches and other historical and monumental buildings has impact on energy consumption, thermal comfort, humidity and indoor surface soiling. To measure the air leakage in such large and naturally ventilated single-zone buildings is however challenging, especially due to wind and buoyancy (stack) induced disturbances. This study describes experiences in this regard, attainedat field tests where the fan pressurization technique (“Blower door”) was employed. Reference is made to the European test standard EN 13829. Also results of wind-tunnel tests are utilized. It is shown that both buoyancy and wind at commonly occurring conditions can cause significant uncertainty in fan pressurization tests, and that some of the directions in the standard might need to be strengthened or amended. While the uncertainty in measured air leakage rate at the standard (high) pressure of 50 Pa may be small, the predictions of the air leakage rate occurring at realistically (low) indoor-outdoor pressures tend to suffer from significant uncertainty. That uncertainty is then conveyed to later utilizations of the test results, e.g. building energy modeling and prediction. It is also shown that the wind induced pressure at buildings like churches extends a considerable way out into the surroundings of the building; in the order of two times the building height. This has particular importance when choosing a reference point for outdoorpressure measurement.

We report on the effect of the overall shape of a city on the flow within the street network. We start with a solid round block, aspect ratio, diameter/ height = 6. The block is subdivided into smaller blocks and step by step an increasing number of streets are introduced. In the wind tunnel visualization with helium filled soap bubbled was carried out for obtaining qualitative information about the flow pattern. The pressure distribution on the ground within the street network was recorded in 400 points. CFD predictions provided the overall flow balance; flow entering through the street portals, leaving through the exit street portals and the updraft.

Elderly churches have a unique shape with their high towers and long naves. There seems to be few if any reported measurement of pressure distribution on churches. Churches are naturally ventilated buildings and therefore when the wind speed is high  the  wind becomes an important driving force for ventilation. A model in scale 1: 200 was built of a 19^th century Swedish church provided with a crawl space.The pressure on the façade of the model was recorded in 42 points. With the aim of studying the ventilation of the church, dedicated measuring points were located on windows, doors and in the positions corresponding to the location of the openings in the crawl space.  Some field trials were undertaken with the scope of measuring the time history of the static pressure on the façade in some positions corresponding to measuring points on the wind tunnel model. Examples of these measurements are  reported in the paper. With the aim of measuring the “region of influence” on the ground caused by the church, also the static pressure on the ground was recorded in the wind tunnel tests.  The static pressure on ground was recorded with a pressure plate provided with 400 pressure taps arranged in a quadratic pattern.

Elderly churches have a unique shape with their high towers and long naves. There seems to be few if any reported measurement of pressure distribution on churches. Churches are naturally ventilated buildings and therefore when the wind speed is high  the  wind becomes an important driving force for ventilation.

A model in scale 1:200 was built of a 19^th century Swedish church provided with a crawl space. The pressure on the façade of the model was recorded in 42 points. With the aim of studying the ventilation of the church dedicated measuring points were located on windows, doors and in the positions corresponding to the location of the openings in the crawl space. 

Some field trials were undertaken with the scope of measuring the time history of the static pressure on the façade in some positions corresponding to measuring points on the wind tunnel model. Examples of these measurements are  reported in the paper.

With the aim of measuring the “region of influence” on the ground caused by the church, also the static pressure on the ground was recorded in the wind tunnel tests.  The static pressure on ground was recorded with a pressure plate provided with 400 pressure taps arranged in a quadratic pattern.

Ventilation and infiltration caused by wind are difficult to predict because they are non-local phenomena: driving factors depend on the surrounding terrain and neighbouring buildings and on the building orientation with respect to the wind direction. Wind-driven flow through an opening is complex because wind can flow through the opening or around the building, in contrast to buoyancy driven flow. We explored wind and air infiltration phenomena in terms of pressure distributions on and around buildings, stagnation points, flow along façades, drag forces, and air flow through openings. Field trials were conducted at a 19^th-century church, and wind tunnel tests were conducted using a 1:200 scale model of the church and other models with openings.

The locations of stagnation points on the church model were determined using particle image velocimetry measurements. Multiple stagnation points occurred. The forces exerted on the church model by winds in various directions were measured using a load cell. The projected areas affected by winds in various directions were calculated using a CAD model of the church. The area-averaged pressure difference across the church was assessed. A fairly large region of influence on the ground, caused by blockage of the wind, was revealed by testing the scale model in the wind tunnel and recording the static pressure on the ground at many points. The findings of this study are summarized as a number of steps that we suggest to be taken to improve analysis and predictions of wind driven flow in buildings.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the relation between urban morphology (three-dimensional structure) and windiness. We regard a city as a porous obstacle, which is open at the top. We consider the interaction between the atmospheric boundary layer and a city to be both a function of the overall shape (silhouette or skyline) and the internal resistance to the flow caused by the friction when the wind flows over the urban surfaces. We regard the street pattern as an interconnected flow network with the crossings as nodes. Flow, along the streets is generated by pressure differences.

We here use a highly idealized city model consisting of a circular block divided into two or four equally large sectors. Two types of cases are studied, the first with only one street through the city model with different angles between the street and the oncoming wind. The second case also contains a perpendicularly crossing street (through the center). Both wind tunnel experiments and numerical flow computations (computational fluid dynamics, CFD) are used and compared. The general agreement between the two is good and the CFD method offers new possibilities for quantifying the urban wind environment. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Validated by wind tunnel data, this study numerically investigates the integrated impacts of wind and thermal buoyancy on urban turbulence, ventilation and pollutant dispersion in full-scale 2D deep street canyons (aspect ratio AR = H/W = 3 and 5, W = 24 m). Isothermal urban airflows for such deep street canyons can be Reynolds-number-independent when reference Reynolds number (Re) exceeds the critical Re (Rec~106,107 when AR = 3, 5), i.e. AR = 5 experiences two main vortices and one-order smaller NEV* (~10−3, the normalized net escape velocity) than AR = 3 with a single main vortex (NEV*~10−2). With sufficiently large Re (Re > Rec) and the same air-wall temperature difference (Ri = 2.62, 4.36 when AR = 3, 5), four uniform wall heating patterns were considered, including leeward-wall heating (L-H), windward-wall heating (W–H), ground heating (G-H), and all-wall heating (A-H). Various indicators were adopted to evaluate street ventilation and pollutant dilution capacity (e.g. age of air (τ,s), NEV*, pollutant transport rates (PTR)). Full-scale wall heating produces a strong upward near-wall buoyancy force, which significantly influences flow patterns and improves street ventilation for most cases. When AR = 3, L-H strengthens the single-vortex airflow. When AR = 5, L-H converts the isothermal double vortices into a single-clockwise vortex. For both ARs, W–H reverses the main clockwise vortex to an enhanced counterclockwise one, moreover G-H and A-H cause a more complicated multi-vortex pattern than isothermal cases. Overall, when AR = 3, L-H and W–H increase NEV* by 68% and 40% than the isothermal case. When AR = 5, four wall heating patterns all raise NEV* considerably (by 150%–556%). For both ARs, the L-H, W–H and A-H amplify the contribution of mean flows on removing pollutants but reduce that by turbulent diffusion compared with isothermal cases.