On the comparison of the ventilation performance of street canyons of different aspect ratios and Richardson number

Abstract

In this paper, the ventilation performances of (1) isothermal street canyons of different building-height-to-street-width (aspect) ratios (h/b) and (2) a ground-heated street canyon of h/b=1 at different Richardson numbers (Ri) are examined numerically by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the use of the Renormalization Group (RNG) k-ɛ turbulence model. The mean (\( \overline {ACH} \)) and turbulent (ACH’) air exchange rates (ACH) are calculated by the eddy-viscosity model instead of the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) used elsewhere. For the isothermal street canyons, the ACH’ is found to account for 90% of the total ACH for 0.5 ≤ h/b ≤ 2. Similar to the previous large-eddy simulation (LES) and k-ɛ turbulence model, the magnitudes and shapes of the roof-level profiles of mean and fluctuating vertical winds are close to each other for different h/b. This suggests that turbulent mixing is important for the ventilation of isothermal street canyons. For the ground-heated street canyon, both the mean wind and turbulence are strengthened as illustrated by the increasing \( \overline {ACH} \) and ACH’ with decreasing Ri. A secondary recirculation is developed at the ground-level windward corner that pushes the primary recirculation upward and enhances and ACH as well.