A novel approach for urban mean flow parameterisation using morphometric analyses

This paper presents a novel methodology for representing neighbourhood-scale flow within and above urban canopies based on detailed urban morphometry analyses and numerical flow simulations. The first step of the methodology consists in the representation of the urban areas in terms of “synthetic” neighbourhoods based on geometric parameters only. The second step consists in assessing the fluid dynamics relevance of such representation by comparing flow results for full scale city morphometry with those using a synthetic representation. Herein numerical simulations are used as benchmark data for assessing the aerodynamics relevance of given geometric parameters. Finally, a new parameterisation for the internal boundary layer growth over cities is discussed in which the urban area is represented by a cluster of synthetic neighbourhoods. Our findings are relevant for the development of more realistic urban flow modelling approaches suitable for implementation of urban effects into mesoscale models.