Impact of Wind Direction on Flow and Turbulent Statistics Over a Realistic Urban Area: A Large-Eddy Simulation Study
Abstract
Effects of wind direction in realistic urban canopies remain difficult to characterize systematically because local flow patterns, building-height variability, and turbulent statistics within a realistic urban canopy may respond differently to changes in the approaching wind. To investigate these multi-scale directional impacts, we conducted high-resolution large-eddy simulations of the atmospheric boundary layer over the Zona Universitaria Pedralbes district in Barcelona. The computational meshes employ fourth-order spectral elements, yielding pedestrian-level resolutions below 1 m and resulting in approximately 5.0e8 degrees of freedom. Sixteen wind directions uniformly distributed over 360deg are simulated to capture the full directional response of the urban fabric.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2608.04136,
title = {Impact of Wind Direction on Flow and Turbulent Statistics Over a Realistic Urban Area: A Large-Eddy Simulation Study},
author = {Josep M. Duró and Ernest Mestres and Ming Teng and Oriol Lehmkuhl and Ivette Rodríguez},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.04136},
year = {2026}
}