Wind suitability in site analysis of coastal concave terrains using computational fluid dynamics simulation: a case study in East Asia

The effect of wind environment is becoming increasingly important in analyzing and selecting sites for better natural ventilation of residential buildings, external comfort, and pollution dispersion. The main purpose of this study was to develop a set of methods for wind environment assessment in coastal concave terrains. This set of methods can be used to provide quantifiable indicators of preferable wind conditions and help site analysis. Firstly, a total of 20 types of coastal bays with concave terrains in East Asia were characterized to find ideal locations. The selected areas were divided into five categories according to the main terrain features. Then a sample database for the concave terrains was compiled for modelling comparisons. Secondly, a number of key wind variables were identified. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of the typical coastal concave terrains identified as a result of the study were created, and the local wind environments were simulated with input from geographic information system (GIS) and statistic package for social science (SPSS) analysis. A measure of wind suitability was proposed that takes wind velocity and wind direction into account using GIS. Finally, SPSS was used to find the relationship between wind suitability and key terrain factors. The results showed that wind suitability was significantly associated with terrain factors, especially altitude. The results suggest that residential building sites should be selected such that their bay openings face the direction of the prevailing wind and that the opposite direction should be avoided.