Experimental study of temperature and airflow distribution inside an urban street canyon during hot summer weather conditions. Part II: Airflow analysis

This paper presents the results of an urban measurement campaign performed in a street canyon in Athens, Greece. A number of field experimental procedures were organized during hot weather conditions, on a 24-h basis for five consecutive days during July 2002. Wind velocity measurements were conducted inside and outside the street canyon together with air and surface temperature measurements. Based on the results of air and surface temperature measurements, a further analysis is performed for the investigation of airflow inside the canyon when the ambient flow is parallel, perpendicular and oblique relative to the long canyon axis. The observed airflow characteristics are associated with the impact of thermal effects mainly induced from ground heating due to the incident solar radiation. However, the role of the finite length canyon effects related to wind circulation near street intersections, on the observed airflow patterns, is also identified.

[1]  T. Oke,et al.  The Energy Balance of an Urban Canyon , 1977 .

[2]  Ari Karppinen,et al.  A measurement campaign in a street canyon in Helsinki and comparison of results with predictions of the OSPM model , 2001 .

[3]  S. Murakami,et al.  Wind tunnel experiments on how thermal stratification affects flow in and above urban street canyons , 2000 .

[4]  K. Pericleous,et al.  Modelling air quality in street canyons : a review , 2003 .

[5]  H. Park,et al.  PARAMETERIZATION OF THE POLLUTANT TRANSPORT AND DISPERSION IN URBAN STREET CANYONS , 1994 .

[6]  Sandrine Anquetin,et al.  Pollutant dispersion and thermal effects in urban street canyons , 1996 .

[7]  T. Oke Street design and urban canopy layer climate , 1988 .

[8]  M. Santamouris,et al.  Experimental study of temperature and airflow distribution inside an urban street canyon during hot summer weather conditions—Part I: Air and surface temperatures , 2008 .

[9]  Robert J. Yamartino,et al.  Development and evaluation of simple models for the flow, turbulence and pollutant concentration fields within an urban street canyon , 1986 .

[10]  G. T. Johnson,et al.  Modelling air flow regimes in urban canyons , 1990 .

[11]  Huang Zhen,et al.  The impact of urban street layout on local atmospheric environment , 2006 .

[12]  M. J. Davidson,et al.  Wind tunnel simulations of plume dispersion through groups of obstacles , 1996 .

[13]  V. Geros,et al.  Experimental evaluation of night ventilation phenomena , 1999 .

[14]  E. Johansson Influence of urban geometry on outdoor thermal comfort in a hot dry climate: A study in Fez, Morocco , 2006 .

[15]  F. Nicol,et al.  Urban environment influence on natural ventilation potential , 2006 .

[16]  D. N. Asimakopoulos,et al.  Thermal and air flow characteristics in a deep pedestrian canyon under hot weather conditions , 1999 .

[17]  J. Monteith,et al.  Boundary Layer Climates. , 1979 .

[18]  G. T. Johnson,et al.  An investigation of three-dimensional characteristics of flow regimes within the urban canyon , 1992 .

[19]  Zhen Huang,et al.  The impact of solar radiation and street layout on pollutant dispersion in street canyon , 2005 .

[20]  S. Nicholson,et al.  A pollution model for street-level air. , 1975, Atmospheric environment.

[21]  P. S. Jackson,et al.  Wind structure near a city centre , 1978 .

[22]  Martin Gallagher,et al.  Short-term measurements of airflow and turbulence in two street canyons in Manchester , 2004 .

[23]  Alison S. Tomlin,et al.  Flow field measurements in the proximity of an urban intersection in London, UK , 2005 .

[24]  Kit Ming Lam,et al.  Evaluation of pedestrian-level wind environment around a row of tall buildings using a quartile-level wind speed descripter , 1995 .

[25]  Gaelle Vachon Transferts des polluants des sources fixes et mobiles dans la canopee urbaine : evaluation experimentale , 2001 .

[26]  S. Kot,et al.  Dispersion of vehicular emission in street canyons, Guangzhou City, South China (P.R.C.) , 1993 .

[27]  M. Väkevä,et al.  Street level versus rooftop concentrations of submicron aerosol particles and gaseous pollutants in an urban street canyon , 1999 .

[28]  Walter F. Dabberdt,et al.  Kinematics and dispersion characteristics of flows in asymmetric street canyons , 1988 .

[29]  G. T. Johnson,et al.  Some insights into typical urban canyon airflows , 1999 .

[30]  H. Mayer,et al.  Numerical study on the effects of aspect ratio and orientation of an urban street canyon on outdoor thermal comfort in hot and dry climate , 2006 .

[31]  W. Theurer TYPICAL BUILDING ARRANGEMENTS FOR URBAN AIR POLLUTION MODELLING , 1999 .

[32]  M. Santamouris,et al.  Experimental investigation of air flow and temperature distribution in deep urban canyons for natural ventilation purposes , 2006 .

[33]  Michael R. Raupach,et al.  A wind-tunnel study of turbulent flow close to regularly arrayed rough surfaces , 1980 .

[34]  M. Rotach Profiles of turbulence statistics in and above an urban street canyon , 1995 .

[35]  T. Oke,et al.  Wind, temperature and stability conditions in an east-west oriented urban canyon , 1988 .

[36]  F. T. Depaul,et al.  Measurements of wind velocities in a street canyon , 1986 .

[37]  G. T. Johnson,et al.  Urban wind flows: wind tunnel and numerical simulations—a preliminary comparison , 1998 .

[38]  M. Santamouris,et al.  Experimental validation of a computational fluid dynamics code to predict the wind speed in street canyons for passive cooling purposes , 2006 .

[39]  R. G. Harrison,et al.  Coupling between air flow in streets and the well-developed boundary layer aloft , 2000 .

[40]  T. Oke,et al.  Long-wave radiative flux divergence and nocturnal cooling of the urban atmosphere , 1976 .