Urban Fluid Mechanics, Resilience, and Sustainability

Abstract

This review first examines how urban wind flow impacts the sustainability and resilience of cities and identifies the three main challenges in predictive modeling of urban flows: the complexity of the flow physics, the variability and uncertainty in the flow conditions, and the diversity and multiscale nature of urban geometries. To review the complexity of the flow physics, the typical flow patterns observed in canonical urban flows are summarized, and related modeling challenges and opportunities in both wind tunnel experiments and simulations are highlighted. Next, opportunities to predict realistic urban flows by addressing the other challenges are explored through the lens of a modeling framework with uncertainty quantification. The important role of field measurements, supporting the more accurate characterization of uncertainties in the flow conditions, as well as enabling validation with real-world data, is emphasized. The review concludes with two specific examples that demonstrate how integrated use of field measurements and computational models can improve the understanding and modeling of real urban flows to ultimately support sustainable development goals for urban areas.