The relationship between the placement of building blocks and wind flow at the pedestrian level

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

Abstract

Assessing human comfort outdoors is one of the key criteria in the design of building. One of the effective factors in creating comfort conditions is wind flow. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of urban blocks on wind flow for creating the comfortable condition. The ratio of buildings height to distance (H/W) and the orientation of buildings as the most important factors affecting wind flow were examined. The ratios of 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 were selected and orientations of 135° to 200° were examined. A residential complex in Tabriz was selected as a case study and weather information of the last 19 years (2002-2021) of Tabriz was extracted from the Meteorological Organization. Months of the year that were unfavorable in terms of comfort conditions were identified by using the Penwarden standard. Accordingly, January 6, 2021, was selected as one of the coldest days of the year, and to simulate different scenarios, Envi-met (4.4.5) software was used. The results show that the H/W ratios of 0.5 to 1 and the orientations of 200° to 185° and 135° are the most appropriate. In this research two important factors, H/W and their orientation were studied in a linear form. One of the limitations of the research is that only the comfort conditions in the outdoor environment of the buildings have been studied. Therefore, in future research, the arrangement of urban blocks to consume less energy inside buildings can be examined.

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