Model study of the development of boundary layers above urban areas

Abstract Obstacles like buildings on the ground surface affect the flow in the lower part of the atmosphere. Wind tunnel measurements of the wind velocity field and, more qualitatively, the turbulence intensities have been made for both idealized and realistic building patterns and approach flow directions. The relationship between the building pattern and the height to which the disturbances extend is significant. For a smooth uniform pattern, it is about the same as the height of the buildings; for inhomogeneous rough terrain, the disturbances extend to about twice the building height. As the roughness changes, the growth of the developing internal boundary layer was observed and compared with results from the literature. The agreement is fairly good.

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