Mean Winds Through an Inhomogeneous Urban Canopy

The mean flow within inhomogeneous urban areas is investigated using an urban canopy model. The urban canopy model provides a conceptual and computational tool for representing urban areas in a way suitable for parameterisation within numerical weather prediction and urban air quality models. Average aerodynamic properties of groups of buildings on a neighbourhood scale can be obtained in terms of the geometry and layout of the buildings. These canopy parameters then determine the spatially averaged mean wind speeds within the canopy as a whole. Using morphological data for real cities, computations are performed for representative sections of cities. Simulations are performed to study transitions between different urban neighbourhoods, such as residential areas and city centres. Such transitions are accompanied by changes in mean building density and building height. These are considered first in isolation, then in combination, and the generic effects of each type of change are identified. The simulation of winds through a selection of downtown Los Angeles is considered as an example. An increase in canopy density is usually associated with a decrease in the mean wind speed. The largest difference between mean winds in canopies of different densities occurs near ground level. Winds generally decrease upon encountering a taller canopy of the same density, but this effect may be reversed very near the ground, with possible speed-ups if the canopy is especially tall. In the vicinity of a transition there is an overshoot in the mean wind speed in the bottom part of the canopy. Mechanisms for these effects are discussed.