Predicting velocities and turbulent momentum exchange in isolated street canyons

Abstract

A simplified way of studying the transport of mass and momentum through dense neighborhoods is to consider the flow field as a combination of a mainly horizontal flow along street canyons and a vertical flow into and out of street canyons. In this paper, we derive a simple, semi-analytical model for calculating the expected wind speeds in narrow, isolated, idealized street canyons of uniform height that are aligned with and at an angle to the wind through the introduction of a non-dimensional parameterization of the vertical turbulent exchange of horizontal momentum between the urban canopy layer (UCL) and the urban boundary layer (UBL). The model is closed and evaluated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in a generic way. The RMSE of the normalized bulk velocity in the street canyon in the direction of the freestream flow is 1.8 × 10−4, 2.3 × 10−2 and 9.4 × 10−2 for variations in façade roughness, aspect ratio and canyon orientation, respectively.We argue that there is a need for a fast, simple methodology to assess the impact of urban form on neighborhood microclimate, especially in dense neighborhoods, and specifically for use in the early phases of design. This methodology should be able to predict areas in a neighborhood that are prone to low wind speeds or weak mass and momentum exchange rates with the UBL above because these areas may be particularly susceptible to pollutant retention and the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Current methodologies are often inadequate for this purpose because they use computationally intensive techniques to solve for flow through a neighborhood and often require a strong technical background to support their use. The work in this paper addresses this problem for an idealized, narrow street canyon, and we discuss the need for parameterizations for urban form that are relevant to mass and momentum exchange rates to extend this model beyond a single street canyon. Finally, we discuss how this work could be further developed into generalized planning guidelines and incorporated into a comprehensive urban planning methodology that aims to passively mitigate the UHI effect and pollutant retention through the clever design of urban form.