Maseeh Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

Funding Source

Undergraduate Research and Mentoring Program (URMP)

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2023

Abstract

With approximately half of the U.S. population residing in coastal areas, understanding the unique characteristics of air flow in these regions becomes critically important. The dynamic flow of air in urban environments affects the dispersal of pollutants, overall air quality, microclimates, human comfort levels, and the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Using computational fluid dynamics, this research aims to offer transformative solutions for enhancing air quality, optimizing building designs, and improving quality of life in coastal urban areas. Larger spacing between buildings results in larger zones of high-velocity flow. This flow can penetrate deeper into the urban fabric, facilitating better ventilation and thereby reducing pollutant concentrations more effectively. The upward secondary flow observed between buildings spaced 0.5 km apart appears to be less influential in enhancing overall ventilation. New flow structures of secondary flow are observed: while in the building region, the entire plane is low-momentum pathways, the high-momentum pathways are located in the gaps behind buildings

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