An experimental investigation of the wind environment and air quality within a densely populated urban street canyon

This paper presents an experimental investigation of wind flow characteristics and air quality along a street canyon located within a dense urban area. Four typical models of a highly populated urban area are studied and wind tunnel experiments are carried out over an extended range of the applied wind directions. The building patterns are represented by 1:100 scale models, where wind velocity and tracer gas concentrations are measured along the two sides of the street. The study results provide evidence that building configurations and wind directions are very important factors in determining both wind flow and pollutant dispersion characteristics within urban domains. Also, the results demonstrate that gaps between buildings are a very important factor to be considered by urban planners and designers, because, for a given building height, larger gaps induce more wind in urban canyons, thus improving the ventilation process. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.