Impact of urban construction on pedestrian level wind environment in complex building group

Abstract

The impact of urban construction on pedestrian level wind (PLW) has been extensively studied, which has mainly focused on ideal structures rather than real multiplex building layouts. Therefore, a series of wind tunnel tests were conducted on a real building complex to investigate the impacts of a newly built nearby high-rise building, added floors, passage width and a novelty zigzag building shape on the PLW. The findings showed that in converging layouts, PLW velocity can be increased up to 2.75 times by a nearby 230 m high-rise building, and it is reduced by 30% with a 30 m passage compared to a 10 m passage. Adding 38 m to a 65 m high building would increase PLW velocity by 1.95 times when compared to an isolated building and 2.4 times when compared to a building surrounded by others. Additionally, a modest impact on PLW velocity was observed with zigzag building shapes. This study highlights the PLW velocity that can be increased to a large extent with newly built high-rise buildings and adding floors, while increasing the passage width has the opposite effect. This study also offers insights into urban planning and building design to enhance wind comfort.