BACKGROUND:
Wind flow over the surface of the earth, referred to as the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) flow, is usually modelled as boundary layer flow over a rough flat plate. The surface roughness of the flat plate in such studies is correlated with the corresponding terrain roughness (e.g. relatively smooth for flat open rural terrain, or relatively rough for suburban and urban areas), which is a key parameter that determines the character of the turbulent wind or ABL flow. This approach has been successfully applied in both model-scale studies in the wind tunnel, as well as in simulations using computational fluid dynamics modelling.
Such proven approcahes continue to be used to study wind effects on the built environment (e.g. building aerodynamics, wind loads on facades, dynamic response of buildings to the turbulent wind, etc.). Alongside, wind flow across urban centres (e.g. large developed cities) has been of particular interest to both researchers and building developers for many decades, in order to understand and mitigate problematic wind effects at pedestrian level. Tall buildings are notorious for re-directing upper level higher wind flows down to pedestrian level, creating wind nuisance. However this may not always be the case, especially when the approach flow does not follow a well-behaved ABL profile.
It is worth noting also, in recent times, researchers are also using the approaches mentioned above to understand the nature of the gusty wind flow above the city canopy, where unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) are proposed to take flight, in missions ranging from urban transport (or urban air mobility), traffic monitoring, law enforcement, and more.
THE PROJECT:
This project will investigate the characteristics of urban wind flows at pedestrian level and attempt to generate knowledge around the influence of a tall building location in a city environment on the pedestrian level wind flows that it generates.
In particular, it is of interest to understand how the presence of upstream buildings, affects the wind flow that is 'seen' by a tall building, and what this means in terms of the re-direction of flows.
The initial phase of the project will consider all relevant literature to identify key knowledge gaps, formulate appropriate research questions, and settle on the scope of work for the project.
This project will be carried out in our world class Newmarket wind tunnel utilising a 1:300 scale model scale of the city of Auckland (or similar). There is the possibility of complementing this with CFD simulations (TBC) if it is able to fit within the scope of the project.
THE P4P GROUP:
Each of you will have attained a minimum A- grade for the Mecheng325 course, and will have previously completed, or will enrol into the Mecheng712 course in Semester 1 of 2024.
Please do not select this project if you do not meet these minimum requirements.
Undergraduate
Experiment design utilising existing (previously developed) models and methods.
Turbulent flowfield characterisation alongside building surface pressure mapping.
Knowledge / understanding on the location of a tall building relative to other buildings and its infleunce on re-directing approaching wind flows.
Obtained A- or better grade in the Mecheng325 course.
Enrolled into (or previously completed) the Mecheng712 course.
Aerodynamics Lab (Newmarket 901 Lvl5, Lab)