Evaluating Urban Ventilation in the Urban Grid of Barcelona and Berlin: A Comparative Study on the Relationship Between Wind Direction and Urban Morphology

Abstract

Natural ventilation is an effective strategy to reduce energy consumption of the building and improve air quality for the building occupants. However, natural ventilation is highly affected by external factors. The required air conditions for natural ventilation rely on the building’s location in the urban context. Therefore, it is important to study the air around the building. Airflow in the urban context has a different behavior from the prevailing wind due to various factors, such as urban morphology. Urban morphology can affect the behavior of air around the building and make it unpredictable. Urban morphology causes the urban street canyon, so that the airflow in the urban street canyon is turbulent. Therefore, predicting the airflow of the building is dependent on urban morphology and the airflow behavior in the urban street canyon. This study investigates how the airflow conditions, such as temperature and velocity, change on the ground level with the changing wind direction in different types of urban contexts.