Wind tunnel tests on the relationship between building density and pedestrian-level wind velocity: Development of guidelines for realizing acceptable wind environment in residential neighborhoods

The main purpose of this study is to reveal the relationship between the building density and the average wind velocity at pedestrian level in residential neighborhoods. This paper firstly presents the results of wind tunnel tests on 22 residential neighborhoods selected from actual Japanese cities. The results show that there is a strong relationship between the gross building coverage ratio and the mean wind velocity ratio. Secondly, the wind environment evaluation for case study areas is performed by using the wind tunnel results and the climatic conditions of several major Japanese cities. The development method of guidelines for realizing acceptable wind environment in residential neighborhoods using the gross building coverage ratio is proposed. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.