The Ventilation Efficiency of Urban Built Intensity and Ventilation Path Identification: A Case Study of Wuhan

Jie Yin, Qingming Zhan, Muhammad Tayyab and Aqeela Zahra
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Jie Yin: College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, China Three Gorges University, No. 8, University Road, Xiling District, Yichang 443002, China
Qingming Zhan: School of Urban Design of Wuhan University, No. 8, Donghu South Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan 430072, China
Muhammad Tayyab: College of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, China Three Gorges University, No. 8, University Road, Xiling District, Yichang 443002, China
Aqeela Zahra: School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-16

Abstract: Urban ventilation is being hampered by rough surfaces in dense urban areas, and the microclimate and air quality of the urban built environment are not ideal. Identifying urban ventilation paths is helpful to save energy, reduce emissions, and improve the urban ecological environment. Wuhan is the capital city of Hubei, and it has a high urban built intensity and hot summers. Taking Wuhan city, with a size of 35 km ×50 km, as an example, the built environment was divided into grids of 100 m × 100 m and included the building density, floor area ratio, and average building height. The ventilation mechanism of the urban built intensity index has previously been explained. The decrease in building density is not the sole factor causing an increase in wind speed; the enclosure and width of the ventilation path and the height of the front building are also influential. Twelve urban built units were selected for CFD numerical simulation. The ventilation efficiency of each grid was evaluated by calculating the wind speed ratio, maximum wind speed, average wind speed, and area ratio of strong wind. The relationship between the urban built intensity index and ventilation efficiency index was established using the factor analysis method and the Pearson correlation coefficient; building density and average building height are the most critical indexes of ventilation potential. In addition, the layout of the building also has an important impact on ventilation. A suitable built environment is that in which the building density is less than 30%, the average building height is greater than 15 m, and the floor area ratio is greater than 1.5. The urban built intensity map was weighted to identify urban ventilation paths. The paper provides a quantitative reference for scientific planning and design of the urban spatial form to improve ventilation.

Keywords: urban built intensity index; ventilation efficiency index; ventilation path; geographic information system (GIS); computational fluid dynamics (CFD) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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