Analysis of airflow over building arrays for assessment of urban wind environment

Large eddy simulation (LES) of the airflows around various types of block arrays was performed to estimate the pedestrian wind environment. Five types of uniform staggered block arrays with different aspect ratios and an array with a nonuniform height were selected for the simulations. The simulation accuracy was validated by comparing the drag coefficient and wind profiles with those of previous work. The characteristics of the spatially averaged mean wind profiles of the arrays were analyzed on the basis of the calculation results. This study reveals that the frontal area ratio, which is the product of the plan area ratio and building aspect ratio, is the most important parameter in estimating the pedestrian wind environment. In addition, a simple exponential equation was derived for predicting the pedestrian wind speed as a function of the frontal area ratio, which is applicable to various building aspect ratios and amounts of height variability. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.