Impact of volume distribution on pedestrian wind environment in high-rise urban districts: a CFD study

Abstract

Pedestrian wind environment assessment is becoming an essential part of the urban design process especially in dense urban areas due to its ability to address the wind comfort/safety/health concerns in an early phase. In this paper, high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, validated with experimental data, are performed on eight different designs in a generic urban layout to study the impact of volume distribution on pedestrian wind environment in high-rise urban districts. The results show that the blockage effects of the high-rise buildings decelerates the wind in the streets parallel to the flow while accelerating the flow in the streets perpendicular to the flow. This effect is evident up to a two block distance upstream of the high-rises. Furthermore, it is shown that consequent rows of high-rises in the downstream of the first row facing the wind flow have little effect on the upstream pedestrian wind; however, they have a significant role in the extent of affected areas downstream. The findings of this study provide further understanding about the impact of different volume distributions on pedestrian wind environment in high-rise urban districts and clarify their effect on wind safety and comfort.