Experimental and Model-Computed Area-Averaged Vertical Profiles of Wind Speed for Evaluation of Mesoscale Urban Canopy Schemes

Numerous urban canopy schemes have recently been developed for mesoscale models in order to approximate the drag and turbulent production effects of a city on the air flow. However, little data exists by which to evaluate the efficacy of the schemes since “area-averaged” data is difficult to obtain due to needing many measurements over a large horizontal area at multiple heights. In this study, we have taken measurements from several recent field and wind-tunnel experiments, and supplemented them with numerical model-computed mean wind and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) fields in order to derive vertical profiles of “area-averaged” wind speed and TKE. In this presentation, we will describe the experimental data we have used and show vertical profiles of wind speed and TKE for several cities and multi-building array configurations. We will then discuss the use of numerical models for creating “synthetic” data and compare area-averaged model-computed results to the experimental data. We will finish by showing how the area-averaged wind speed and TKE profiles change as a function of plan area density, standard deviation of building heights, and other relevant parameters.