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ScienceDirect
Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222
www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

CFD modeling of the impact of solar radiation in a tridimensional

urban canyon at dierent wind conditions
S. Bottillo , A. De Lieto Vollaro, G. Galli, A. Vallati
Sapienza University of Rome, DIAEE, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Received 13 November 2013; received in revised form 22 January 2014; accepted 24 January 2014
Available online 12 February 2014
Communicated by: Associate Editor Matheos Santamouris

Abstract
In this study, the interaction between a tridimensional ow eld and an urban street canyon, has been analyzed. Considering dierent
ambient wind velocity intensities and directions, several numerical simulations have been performed. The aim of this study is to investigate the eect of solar radiation, within a street canyon, for various characteristics of the ambient ow eld. In the rst part, the buoyancy eects have been excluded and the impact of tridimensional eects on the ow eld has been evaluated. In the second part, the
natural convection eects on the ow structures and the heat processes have been analyzed. Through the evaluation of the Richardson
number an analysis of the convective heat transfer coecient has been performed. The results show the importance of considering a tridimensional model and the impact of the longitudinal velocity component on the heat transfer processes along the street canyon.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Urban canyon; CFD; Heat transfer coecient; Solar radiation

1. Introduction
Thermal conditions in street canyons are important
topics of urban microclimate, that inuences the buildings
energy demand and has a large impact on the thermal comfort and health of the people (Moonen et al., 2012). Surface
temperature distribution and air circulation play an important role on heat exchanges between the building and canyon air, that in turn inuence pedestrian comfort and the
energy demand of buildings. It is obvious that buildings
placed in thermally critical positions, use more energy for
air cooling in summer. The buildings energy demand represents 70% of the residential energy in consumption, which
is 15% of the nal energy consumption in EU (European
Commission Energy, 2009), so that there is a great energy
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 06 44 58 56 64; fax: +39 06 48 80 120.

E-mail address: simone.bottillo@uniroma1.it (S. Bottillo).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2014.01.029
0038-092X/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

saving potential by minimizing the energy for space cooling

of the buildings. Furthermore, high external temperatures
cause discomfort and inconvenience to the urban population. In the last decades, several studies have been performed on urban street canyons. Through numerical
simulations (Lei et al., 2012; Xie et al., 2007), wind tunnel
experiments (Uehara et al., 2000) and measurement campaigns (Oerle et al., 2007; Louka et al., 2002), the impact
of surface heating on the ow eld and on heat exchange
has been analyzed. Xie et al. (2007) pointed out that the
its eect can be expressed through the Richardson dimensionless number and they studied the inuence of ground
heating on the thermo uid-dynamic parameters within a
2D canyon. Lei et al. (2012), studied the impact of ambient
wind speed and ground heating on the ow eld within a
canyon, in particular they studied thermal eects and the
formation of thermal-induced vortices. Allegrini et al.
(2012a), analyzed the importance of buoyancy in

S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

two-dimensional models of urban canyons with dierent

aspect ratio, concluding that buoyancy has to be taken into
account for the calculation of the heat transfer coecient.
Using the adaptive wall function approach developed by
Defraeye et al. (2011) and Allegrini et al. (2012b), they concluded that the AWF provides more accurate heat transfer
analysis in urban CFD studies. Since it has been demonstrated that 3D eects have a remarkable impact on the
ow eld within a street canyon (Bottillo et al., 2013), in
this study, using a commercial CFD code (Ansys Fluent),
several 3D numerical tests have been performed on an isolated street canyon, to evaluate how the ow eld changes
within the canyon at dierent ambient wind conditions and
to highlight the importance of considering tridimensional
eects. The dynamic eld has been studied through two
wind intensities and three wind directions, instead the thermal eld is induced by setting up the solar radiation module, the ambient conditions and thermo physical properties
values of the buildings and the ground. In the rst part,
excluding the natural convection eects, three simulations
characterized by dierent ambient wind directions have
been analyzed. Through the analysis of velocity vectors distribution on several planes of interest within the canyon,
the evaluation of tridimensional eects on the ow eld
has been carried out. In the second part have been analyzed
the eects obtained by activating the natural convection
module, through a comparison of velocity vectors distribution. In order to evaluate the importance the natural convection eects on the dynamic eld and heat exchange
processes, two dierent ambient wind intensities and three
wind directions have been analyzed. An analysis of the heat
transfer coecient correlated to the Richardson number
has been performed, both as average values on the windward and leeward facade and as local values, considering
three dierent vertical planes of interest within the canyon.
2. CFD numerical model
The simulations have been performed with the commercial CFD code Ansys Fluent 14.0, 3D double precision,
pressure based version and the steady RANS equations
have been solved in combination with the standard ke
model.
The governing equations can be expressed as follows.
Momentum equation:

u|


@
1 @
@  0 0
u
p l @2u



u u fi
q @xi q @xi @xj @xj |
@xj

Continuity equation:
@u
0
@xi
Heat conservation equation:


@T
@
@T


KT
u
0
@xi @xi
@xi

213

where u is the average speed of air ow; u0 u0| is the Reynolds

stress; q is the air density; l is the molecular viscosity; fi is the
thermal-induced buoyant force; T is the potential temperature; KT is the thermal turbulent diusivity. The standard
ke model has been used to solve the turbulence problem.
The turbulence kinetic energy, k, and its rate of dissipation,
e, are obtained from the following transport equations:

 
@
@
@
lt @k
qk
qkui
l
Gk Gb  qe
@t
@xi
@xj
rk @xj
4
and
@
@
@
qe
qeui
@t
@xi
@xj


l

 
lt @e
e
C 1e Gk
k
re @xj

C 3e Gb  C 2e q

e2
k

where Gk is the generation of turbulence kinetic energy due

to the mean velocity gradients; Gb is the generation of turbulence kinetic energy due to buoyancy; C1e, C2e constants
are reported in the standard ke model of Ansys Fluent
14.0, 2011; rk and re are the turbulent Prandtl numbers
for k and e, respectively.
The turbulent viscosity lt is computed as follows:
lt qC l

k2
e

where Cl = 0.09.
The thermal turbulent diusivity is related to the turbulent viscosity through the turbulent Prandtl number (PrT):
KT

lt =q
PrT

where PrT = 0.85.

The degree to which e is aected by the buoyancy is
determined by the constant C3e. In Ansys Fluent, C3e is
not specied, but is instead calculated according to the following relation:
v
 
C 3e tanh  
8
u
where m is the component of the ow velocity parallel to
the gravitational vector and u is the component of the ow
velocity perpendicular to the gravitational vector. In this
way, C3e will become 1 for buoyant shear layers for which
the main ow direction is aligned with the direction of
gravity. For buoyant shear layers that are perpendicular
to the gravitational vector, C3e will become zero (Ansys
Fluent version 14.0.0, 2011). To evaluate the impact of
thermal eects, the natural convection module has been
activated by setting incompressible ideal gas model for
air density. The radiation exchanges has been evaluated
setting up the S2S radiation model, in which the energy
exchange parameters are accounted for by a geometric
function called a view factor, and activating the Solar
Ray Tracing in the Solar Load Model, provided in Ansys
Fluent version 14.0.0. The simulated urban canyon has the

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S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

following characteristics: it is placed in Milan, Italy

(longitude: 9.18, latitude: 45.47, UTC:+1), it has an aspect
ratio H/W = 1 and L/W = 5, the orientation is NS, the
buildings width and height are 20 m, the street width is
20 m and the street length is 100 m. A steady state simulation has been carried out with the ambient temperature
and solar radiation at 11.00 a.m. 26 June in Milan, as given
by the software meteorological le. A comparison between
the values of surfaces temperature in a steady simulation
and in a transient one (Bottillo et al., 2013), allows us to
perform simulations in stationary case. As to the inner layers of the ground and of the building walls and the heat
uxes a transient solution is dierent from a steady one,
but the external surface temperature calculated in the steady simulation is representative of the value calculated in
the transient one. That is due to the external thermal resistance which is much smaller than the total thermal resistance, so that the dierence between the outer surface
temperature and the solair temperature is much smaller
than the total temperature dierence across the wall. Based
on the best practice guidelines by Franke et al. (2007) and
Tominaga et al. (2008), the extension of computational domain is: 23H  15H  6H. These dimensions values have
been chosen to take into account of the blockage ratio
and to ensure the ow re-development behind the building
region. The temperature of surfaces has been obtained as
result of the heat transfer calculations, setting up: the solar
load module (longitude: 9.18, latitude: 45.47, UTC:+1),
the temperature of undisturbed air (303 K), the temperature of the internal air of the buildings (299 K). To simulate the ground inuence, the computational domain has
been extended 5 m below the ground level. The ground
has been simulated setting the following parameters: density = 1000 kg/m3; specic heat = 1000 J/kg K; thermal
conductivity = 2 W/mK; temperature at 5 m = 288 K;
emissivity = 0.9; solar radiation absorptivity (direct visible
and infrared) = 0.8 (Bottillo et al., 2013). Furthermore, the
materials characteristics have been reported in Bottillo
et al. (2013): i.e. the building walls have: density =
1000 kg/m3; specic heat = 1000 J/kg K; thermal conductivity = 0.15 W/mK; thickness = 0.30 m; internal air
temperature = 299 K; emissivity = 0.9; solar radiation
absorptivity (direct visible and near infrared) = 0.8. To
ensure an high quality of the computational grid, it is fully
structured and the shape of the cells has been chosen hexahedral. According to the study of Ramponi and Blocken
(2012), the velocity prole has been set giving a uniform
velocity magnitude at the velocity inlet boundary, the turbulence intensity at 10% and the roughness length
z0 0:05 m. As the ow approaches the built area the
velocity inlet prole is fully-developed before reaching
the buildings (Bottillo et al., 2013).
3. Results
In a previous work (Bottillo et al., 2013), our numerical
model has been validated by comparison with experimental

and numerical results (Uehara et al., 2000 and Xie et al.,

2007) for a xed wind direction and canyon geometry. In
this study, considering dierent ambient wind conditions,
several simulations have been performed on an isolated
urban canyon, in order evaluate the eects on the ow eld
and heat exchange processes within the canyon. Since we
have chosen to study the importance of considering a 3D
model, we have performed some simulations with natural
convection module deactivated, changing the ambient wind
speed main direction, just to analyze the buildings impact
on the ow eld and how it changes along the street canyon. Afterwards, the natural convection module has been
activated, to evaluate how the ow eld changes considering thermal eects, at dierent ambient wind directions and
magnitude. In Table 1 is shown the list of the simulations
performed and their dierences of settings (ambient wind
velocity intensities, activation of natural convection module and ambient wind direction). The windward facade is
totally heated by the direct solar radiation, while the leeward facade is in shadow and it receives the diuse solar
radiation and exchanges longwave radiation with the other
surfaces; the wind direction has been expressed through the
angle formed by an undisturbed wind velocity vector and
the North direction, assuming positive degrees clockwise
from the North (20N, 45N and 70N).
3.1. Three-dimensional eects
Three simulations have been performed (SIM.A, D and
G), with natural convection deactivated, to evaluate the tridimensional eects on the ow eld within a street canyon;
these simulations have been characterized by three dierent
wind directions (20N, 45N and 70N respectively) and a
wind velocity magnitude over the building u0 of 2 m/s. In
Fig. 1 are shown the XZ velocity vectors for SIM.A
(u0 = 2 m/s, 20N, natural convection o) on the three vertical planes considered within the canyon (North and South
plane, placed at 10 m from the relative opening and Central
plane in the middle of the canyon). Even if this simulation is
characterized by a strong longitudinal velocity component
(average Y velocity at North Plane = 1.48 m/s, at Central
plane = 1.22 m/s, at South Plane = 1.34 m/s), the ow eld
changes signicantly as the air passes through the canyon,
from the North plane to the South one. Similar values of
average Y velocity component are found also for the other
wind directions. The Fig. 1 shows an aerodynamic vortex
coming from the roof in each plane of interest (the skimming ow). In the North and Central planes, it can be
noticed a weak vortex in the left lower corner of the canyon,
that tends to disappear as the air moves to the south opening. At the South plane, the main vortex from the roof occupies all the area between the buildings. As the wind speed
becomes transverse to the canyon direction (SIM.D and
SIM.G) the skimming ow occupies a larger area between
the buildings in the North and Central plane; in the South
plane (Fig. 4(a1), (b1) and (c1)) it can be noticed that when
the wind speed direction is 70N the skimming ow

S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

215

Table 1
List and specications of the CFD simulations performed.
Simulation

Wind speed (u0)

(m/s)

Nat. conv.
mod.

Wind direction
(N)

SIM.A
SIM.B
SIM.C

p
p

20

SIM.D
SIM.E
SIM.F

p
p

45

SIM.G
SIM.H
SIM.I
SIM.L

p
p

70

Fig. 2. SIM.D (u0 = 2 m/s, 45N, natural convection o), XY velocity

vectors on a plane placed at z = 10 m.

Fig. 1. SIM.A (u0 = 2 m/s, 20N, natural convection o), XZ velocity

vectors on the North (a), Central (b) and South plane (c).

disappears and the ow eld is characterized by an upward

motion. The analysis shows that, the composition of the
transversal and longitudinal velocity components,

determines the formation of a spiral vortex, that grows up

as the air passes through the canyon and as the wind direction becomes transverse. In Fig. 2 is shown the ow eld of
SIM.D (u0 = 2 m/s, 45N, natural convection o) on an XY
plane placed at z = 10 m. As it can been seen, the ow eld
is characterized by an aerodynamic vortex, due to geometrical discontinuities. It occupies a large area within the canyon, on the easterly side, from the northerly opening to 2H
distance from the opening itself. When the wind direction is
20N (SIM.A) this area is smaller, instead when the wind
direction is 70N (SIM.G), it is wider, but the ow eld is
basically the same. In Fig. 3 the velocity vectors components on three YZ vertical planes within the canyon for
SIM.G (u0 = 2 m/s, 70N, natural convection o), parallels
to the building facades, are shown. These planes are placed
at 0.40 m from the facades and in the middle of the canyon.
As it can be seen, the ow pattern changes signicantly from
the windward facade to the leeward one and from the north
opening to the south one. In the YZ plane near the windward facade, the velocity vectors have a downward Z component from the north opening to the Central plane. Instead
from the Central plane to the South one, the velocity is
weak and the air ows mainly along the ground. In the Central YZ plane it can be noticed a waveform ow, from the
north opening to the south one. Instead in the YZ plane,
near the leeward facade, the velocity vectors are characterized basically by an upward Z component. Furthermore,
there is an area near the north opening, aected by an
aerodynamic vortex with vertical axis, in which the vectors
have an Y component opposite to the main wind direction.

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S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

Fig. 3. SIM.G (u0 = 2 m/s, 70N, natural convection o), YZ velocity vectors on: a plane placed at 0.40 m from the WW facade (a), a plane in the middle
of the canyon (b) and a plane place at 0.40 m from the LW facade (c).

Fig. 4. Eects of natural convection on the ow eld, when u0 = 2 m/s, on the South plane between SIM.A and SIM.B (20N), (a1) and (a2), SIM.D and
SIM.E (45N) (b1) and (b2), SIM.G and SIM.H (70N) (c1) and (c2).

S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

217

As the wind direction becomes longitudinal to the canyon,

the ow eld is similar, but the above mentioned eects
are less marked. Another simulation, characterized by wind
direction of 80N has been performed; it has been noticed
that even if the ow is strongly transversal to the canyon
direction, the longitudinal eects are remarkable and the
results are very similar to the 70N simulation.
3.2. Natural convection eects on ow elds
To evaluate the impact of thermal eects on the ow
eld within the canyon, a comparison between simulations,
respectively with natural convection module activated and
deactivated, has been carried out. The simulations results
show that the thermal eects on the ow eld become
stronger as the air passes through the canyon from the
north opening to the south one, so it has been chosen to
study the natural convection eects on the south XZ plane.
In Fig. 4 are shown a comparison of XZ velocity vectors
between SIM.A and SIM.B, SIM.D and SIM.E, SIM.G
and SIM.H, characterized by an ambient velocity intensity
u0 = 2 m/s. When the wind direction is 20N (SIM.A) and
the natural convection module is deactivated, the ow eld
is characterized only by the aerodynamic vortex, instead,
when the natural convection is activated (SIM.B), a thermal induced vortex can be observed, near the sun exposed
facade (Fig. 4(a1) and (a2)). The same results can be
observed (Fig. 4(b1) and (b2)) when the ambient wind
direction is 45N (SIM.D, E), even if the thermal induced
vortex occupies a smaller area than the one seen in SIM.B.
When the wind direction is 70N and the natural convection is deactivated (SIM.G), the XZ velocity vectors on
the South plane, are all upward; this motion is due to tridimensional eects, and it is stronger near the facade in shadow (Fig. 4(c1)). When natural convection is activated
(SIM.H), the upward motion is on both facades and it
determines two weak vortices, characterized by dierent
rotation direction (Fig. 4(c2)). Xie et al. (2007) and
Allegrini et al. (2012a) performed 2D simulations of urban
canyon characterized by an aspect ratio H/W = 1. They
found that, when the surfaces are heated, the single primary vortex (in isothermal conditions) was broken down
into two counter-rotating vortices whose magnitude was
determined by the surface-heating congurations. We
found that the formation of thermal induced vortex,
depends by the ambient wind direction and the ow eld
within the canyon of SIM.B and SIM.D, can be related
to the ones obtained in 2D simulations only in the region
between the Central plane and the south canyon opening.
In Fig. 5 are shown the XZ velocity vectors on the South
plane for SIM.C, F, I and L characterized by an ambient
velocity intensity u0 = 4 m/s. As it can be seen, the natural
convection eects are weak for these simulations. When the
wind direction is 20N (SIM.C), a small thermal induced
vortex can be observed near the lower corner of the sun
exposed facade (Fig. 5(a)). This vortex is almost missing
when the wind direction is 45N (SIM.F), as it can be seen

Fig. 5. XZ velocity vectors on South plane, when u0 = 4 m/s, for SIM.C

(a) (20N, no natural convection), SIM.F (b) (45N, no natural convection) and SIM.I (c) and SIM.L (d) (70N, with natural convection module
on and o, respectively).

in Fig. 5(b). Observing the velocity vectors of SIM.I

(u0 = 4 m/s, 70N, natural convection on, Fig. 5(c)), it
can be noticed an upward motion near the sun exposed facade weaker than the one of SIM.H (u0 = 2 m/s, 70N, natural convection on, Fig. 4(c2)). To evaluate better the

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S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

buoyancy force eects in SIM.I, a comparison with SIM.L

(u0 = 4 m/s, 70N, natural convection o) has been performed; as it can be seen in Fig. 5(c) and (d), the upward
motion near the facades on XZ south plane is weaker when
natural convection module is deactivated.
3.3. Natural convection eects on heat exchanges
To quantify the eects of natural convection on the ow
eld within an urban canyon, the Richardson number has
been evaluated for each simulation studied, with natural
convection module activated. The Richardson number is
dened by:
Ri

g  T w  T a  H
T a  u2

where Tw is the average temperature of the considered facade, Ta is the ambient air temperature, H is the main
dimension of the street canyon (H = 20 m) and u is the
ambient wind speed (u0). For very low Richardson numbers (forced convection) the buoyancy forces can be neglected. For Ri around 1 (mixed convection) the
mechanical and the buoyancy forces are both important.
For very high Richardson numbers (natural convection)
the mechanical forces can be neglected (Allegrini et al.,
2012b). The resulting Richardson numbers on the windward facade (WW) and on the leeward one (LW), for each
simulations with natural convection module activated, are
reported in Table 2.
As it can be seen in Table 2 the highest values of
Richardson number are reached when the ambient wind
speed (u0) is 2 m/s (SIM.B, E and H), near the windward
facade, which is exposed to solar radiation. These values
are three times higher than the ones reached near the leeward facade, which is in shadow. When the ambient wind
speed (u0) is 4 m/s (SIM.C, F and I) the Richardson number is always lower than 1, which means that the buoyancy
force has a weak eect on the ow eld (especially near the
leeward facade). Table 3 shows the average values of
convective heat transfer coecient (hc), on the windward
facade (WW) and on the leeward one (LW); as it can be
seen the heat transfer coecient increases by approximately 50% when the natural convection module is
activated and the ambient wind speed (u0) is 2 m/s: SIM.A,
B, D, E, G, H. The analysis of Tables 2 and 3, shows that
Ri is not fully-representative of hc; for example, when the
Table 2
Richardson numbers, calculated with the average values of facades
temperatures and the ambient velocity values of u0 = 2 m/s (SIM.A, E, H)
and 4 m/s (SIM.C, F, I).
Ri

SIM.B

SIM.E

SIM.H

SIM.C

SIM.F

SIM.I

u0
Direction

2 m/s
20N

2 m/s
45N

2 m/s
70N

4 m/s
20N

4 m/s
45N

4 m/s
70N

WW
LW

3.3
1.1

2.9
1.0

3.1
1.1

0.7
0.2

0.6
0.2

0.6
0.2

ambient wind speed (u0) is 2 m/s, the average Ri on the

LW is around 1 and the increase of hc is around 50%, that
is the same result on WW where Ri is three times higher.
When the ambient wind speed (u0) is 4 m/s and the direction is 70N (SIM.I and SIM.L), the increase of hc, due
to natural convection eects, is not negligible, even if the
average Richardson number is low. The comparison
between SIM.I and SIM.L shows that the natural convection eect, on heat exchanges, determines an increase of the
heat transfer coecient ranging from 10% on WW facade
to 14% on the LW one.
To evaluate how the buoyancy eect changes the ow
eld within our street canyon, it has been chosen to calculate the Richardson number for each of the three XZ planes
of interest (North, Central and South plane), according to
the recommendation of Allegrini et al. (2012b). In Tables 4
and 5 are shown, for each simulation, the average values of
temperature and heat transfer coecient on vertical lines,
built as intersections of the planes of interest and the building facades. Furthermore, the table shows the average values of velocity magnitude and turbulent kinetic energy
calculated at 0.40 m from the above-mentioned lines. At
last the Richardson local values have been calculated, using
the average values of wall temperature and velocity magnitude on each vertical line. As it can be seen, on the windward facade (Table 4), the local Richardson values, at
the North plane, are similar to the average Richardson values, both when the ambient wind speed (u0) is 2 m/s, and
when it is 4 m/s. Instead, as the air passes through the canyon, the local Richardson number increases; that means
that the buoyancy force becomes stronger. The trend of
local Richardson values is due to the increase of wall temperature and a decrease of velocity, as the air moves from
the North plane to the South one. The highest local Richardson value (local Ri = 16.7), on the windward facade, is
reached in SIM.H (u0 = 2 m/s, 70N, natural convection
on) at the South plane, where the comparison between
the velocity vectors with SIM.G (u0 = 2 m/s, 70N, natural
convection o) has shown a strong rising air motion, when
natural convection model is activated (Fig. 4(c1) and (c2)).
On the leeward facade (Table 5), at the North plane, the
local Richardson numbers are strongly higher than the
average values; that is due to the aerodynamic vortex at
the northern opening, that determines a region of weak
velocity magnitude. At the Central and South plane the
local Richardson numbers are lower than the ones at North
plane, but they are greater than 1 and greater than the average Richardson values; which means that the buoyancy
force aects the ow eld also near the facade in shadow.
The results show that natural convection strongly aects
the ow eld and the values of the heat transfer coecient.
The analysis of heat transfer coecient on each planes of
interest (Tables 4 and 5) shows that at the North plane,
hc is always higher than the average value for each simulations. Instead, the highest dierence between hc values,
when natural convection module is respectively activated
and excluded, is reached on Central and South planes,

S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

219

Table 3
Average values of heat transfer coecient on both facades, for each simulation performed.
hc (W/m2 K)

SIM.A

Nat. convection
u0
Direction

2 m/s
20N

WW
LW

7.0
6.4

SIM.B
p

10.5
9.2

SIM.C
p

SIM.D

4 m/s
20N

2 m/s
45N

13.7
13.0

8.2
7.1

SIM.E
p

12.1
10.5

SIM.F
p

SIM.G

4 m/s
45N

2 m/s
70N

16.9
15.7

7.2
6.4

SIM.H
p

SIM.I
p

SIM.L

4 m/s
70N
11.1
9.9

14.4
13.5

13.1
11.7

Table 4
Thermo fluid-dynamic parameters of the windward facade on each plane of interest.
WINDWARD FAC
ADE (natural convection on)
SIM.B
u0 = 2 m/s
20N

SIM.E
u0 = 2 m/s
45N

SIM.H
u0 = 2 m/s
70N

SIM.C
u0 = 4 m/s
20N

SIM.F
u0 = 4 m/s
45N

SIM.I
u0 = 4 m/s
70N

T wall (K)

North
Central
South

322.8
325.8
327.1

319.1
323.3
325.7

320.6
324.1
328.2

321.7
317.8
323.0

315.1
318.7
321.3

316.1
320.7
324.6

Ri local

North
Central
South

3.3
4.3
5.5

2.1
3.7
5.4

3.8
5.9
16.7

0.9
0.7
1.2

0.4
0.8
1.3

0.9
2.5
20.6

k (m2/s2)

North
Central
South

0.41
0.29
0.31

0.86
0.45
0.32

0.67
0.36
0.29

0.79
0.39
0.40

1.73
0.92
0.52

1.35
0.55
0.47

u (m/s)

North
Central
South

1.97
1.86
1.69

2.25
1.89
1.66

1.74
1.52
0.99

3.76
3.61
3.25

4.27
3.64
3.07

3.07
2.16
0.83

hc (W/m2K)

North
Central
South

11.96
9.92
9.76

16.51
11.95
10.38

14.94
11.28
9.19

17.16
12.79
12.64

23.48
17.36
14.06

21.20
13.84
11.36

Windward facade (natural convection o)

SIM.A
u0 = 2 m/s
20N

SIM.D
u0 = 2 m/s
45N

SIM.G
u0 = 2 m/s
70N

SIM.L
u0 = 4 m/s
70N

326.5
331.5
333.6

324.9
328.1
331.7

324.4
330.6
336.8

316.1
321.4
326.8

T wall (K)

North
Central
South

k (m2/s2)

North
Central
South

0.17
0.07
0.07

0.28
0.19
0.10

0.29
0.11
0.08

1.1
0.4
0.3

u (m/s)

North
Central
South

1.86
1.80
1.63

1.96
1.69
1.30

1.50
0.99
0.31

3.0
1.9
0.7

hc (W/m2K)

North
Central
South

8.75
6.57
6.34

10.57
8.84
6.88

10.72
6.82
5.28

19.8
12.2
9.5

when the ambient wind speed is 2 m/s and the direction is

70N. These variations of the heat transfer coecient
determine a decrease of 3.88.6 K on the WW facade temperature when natural convection module is activated; the
LW facade temperature, instead, is 2.05.1 K lower when
natural convection is on. The temperature of the LW facade, in shadow, is several degrees higher than the air temperature, for all the simulations performed; that is due to

the longwave radiation from the opposite facade (exposed

to sun radiation) and to the shortwave diuse radiation.
Since the air temperature near the facade does not change
signicantly among the simulations, the wall temperature
decrease determines a lower thermal load of buildings.
Saneinejad et al. (2011) conducted a 2D study on the heat
transfer coecient on the vertical walls of a street canyon,
and they reported the hc values in relation to the ambient

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S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

Table 5
Thermo fluid-dynamic parameters of the leeward facade on each plane of interest.
LEEWARD FAC
ADE (natural convection on)
SIM.B
u0 = 2 m/s
20N

SIM.E
u0 = 2 m/s
45N

SIM.H
u0 = 2 m/s
70N

SIM.C
u0 = 4 m/s
20N

SIM.F
u0 = 4 m/s
45N

SIM.I
u0 = 4 m/s
70N

T wall (K)

North
Central
South

309.1
310.8
311.1

308.5
309.6
310.6

309.0
310.1
311.7

306.8
308.4
309.1

306.6
307.2
308.2

307.1
308.1
309.6

Ri local

North
Central
South

54.8
4.8
2.3

12.6
3.6
2.2

11.0
2.3
3.1

4.9
2.3
0.9

1.6
0.9
0.5

1.6
0.6
1.0

k (m2/s2)

North
Central
South

0.39
0.22
0.21

0.38
0.35
0.25

0.35
0.30
0.18

1.00
0.46
0.35

0.91
0.82
0.54

0.85
0.51
0.29

u (m/s)

North
Central
South

0.26
0.98
1.45

0.51
1.05
1.42

0.57
1.36
1.29

0.68
1.16
2.03

1.17
1.62
2.58

1.24
2.19
2.02

hc (W/m2K)

North
Central
South

10.68
8.20
8.19

10.73
9.99
8.82

10.56
9.86
7.60

16.07
11.39
10.41

15.97
14.94
13.18

15.64
13.19
9.96

LEEWARD FAC
ADE (natural convection o)
SIM.A
u0 = 2 m/s
20N

SIM.D
u0 = 2 m/s
45N

SIM.G
u0 = 2 m/s
70N

SIM.L
u0 = 4 m/s
70N

311.1
314.4
315.8

311.2
313.3
315.0

311.5
313.8
316.8

307.3
308.5
310.7

T wall (K)

North
Central
South

k (m2/s2)

North
Central
South

0.23
0.10
0.07

0.18
0.13
0.07

0.17
0.09
0.05

0.7
0.4
0.2

u (m/s)

North
Central
South

0.36
0.49
0.87

0.60
0.72
1.08

0.64
1.01
0.90

1.3
2.0
1.7

hc (W/m2K)

North
Central
South

8.31
5.69
5.01

7.85
6.50
5.62

7.68
6.24
4.73

14.1
11.3
8.4

wind speed and to the local wind speed, taken as an

average value on a vertical line in the middle of the canyon.
They found that when the ambient wind speed is 2 m/s, hc
is 3.08 W/m2 K and 2.22 W/m2 K, respectively on the
windward facade and the leeward one. Instead, when
the ambient wind speed is 3.5 m/s, these values are
4.8 W/m2 K and 3.62 W/m2 K. The simulations performed
in this paper that approximate better the two-dimensionality conditions, are SIM.G (u0 = 2 m/s, 70N, natural convection o) and SIM.L (u0 = 4 m/s, 70N, natural
convection o). A comparison of heat transfer coecient,
shows that our values are more than two times higher than
the ones of Saneinejad et al. (2011). The main reason of this
dierence is that, in our simulations, even if the ambient
wind speed has a strong component transversal to the canyon direction, the tridimensional eects cannot be
neglected. As it can be seen in Tables 4 and 5, the mean
velocity values for wind direction 70N (SIM.G, L), both

on WW and LW facades, are higher than the local velocity

values reported by Saneinejad et al. (2011), in almost the
entire length of the canyon. Indeed, the average velocity
value on a YZ plane in the middle of the canyon is greater
than 1.5 m/s for both simulations. Allegrini et al. (2012a)
analyzed the convective heat transfer coecient in several
urban congurations, through CFD simulations. As we
have done, they studied the importance of buoyancy, but
they performed 2D simulations on urban canyons. They
found that natural convection eects have a relevant inuence only when the ambient wind speed is below 1 m/s. Our
hc values are more than two times higher and they are comparable to ASHRAE values (ASHRAE, 2009), probably
because of the higher values of the velocity magnitude in
the canyon in our simulations induced by the 3D characteristics of the ow eld. Our results show that the heat transfer coecient (hc) seems to have strong dependence from
the value of velocity (u) and turbulent kinetic energy (k)

S. Bottillo et al. / Solar Energy 102 (2014) 212222

in the proximity of the facade. These values, in turn, are

strongly related to the eects of buoyancy forces, in particular the turbulent kinetic energy. The eects of wind direction on the ow elds and thermal processes are rather
complex. The calculated values of velocity magnitude
along the building facades are dierent from the longitudinal component of the external wind speed (u0): in particular
at the North plane, near the windward facade, the velocity
magnitude (u) is similar or even higher than the value of
undisturbed velocity (u0), while it is often lower near the
leeward facade. The average hc values, when the wind
direction is 20N and 70N, are very similar, both on
WW and LW facade. That is due to a balance between u
and k: for example, considering u0 = 2 m/s, when the wind
direction is 20N, the velocity magnitude along the WW,
is higher than 70N, while the turbulent kinetic energy is
lower. Viceversa, along the LW, the velocity magnitude
is higher when the wind direction is 70N, while the turbulent kinetic energy value is lower. When the wind direction
is 45N, the average hc value is higher than at 20N and at
70N, because it is characterized by the highest combination of velocity magnitude and turbulent kinetic energy
along the building facades. Considering the eects of natural convection, the average hc value when the wind direction is 70N is slightly higher than 20N because the
buoyancy eects are more relevant. In order to evaluate
the heat transfer coecient, the relations reported by
Hagashima and Tanimoto (2003), derived from Defraeye
et al. (2010) in which hc is expressed as function of u and
k separately, seems useful. Our results show that the local
Richardson number has a remarkable impact on the shape
of ow elds, as shown in Fig. 4, in particular on the values
of upward velocity (Bottillo et al., 2013).

221

important, while for 4 m/s the natural convection eect is

less signicant. The tridimensional structure of the ow
aects the values of the heat transfer coecient; even if
the ambient wind direction is almost transversal to the canyon, there is always a remarkable longitudinal velocity
component, that in turn aects the heat transfer coecient
values. The average hc value depends strongly on the value
of ambient velocity u0 and less on the wind direction, while
the hc values along the canyon can have strong variations.
Furthermore, we have shown how, the buoyancy force
inuences the heat exchange, causing a decrease of facades
temperature, that in turn reduce the cooling load of buildings. It has been shown the importance of considering the
solar heating and the radiative exchanges, that produce
an increase of temperature also on the surfaces in shadow.
Therefore, it has been pointed out that buoyancy aects the
entire area within the canyon and not only the one in proximity of the surfaces exposed to the sun radiation. The convective heat transfer coecient seems to be related to the
local values of velocity magnitude and to the turbulent
kinetic energy that increases several times under tridimensional and natural convection conditions. The values of
hc, reported in this paper, are higher than the ones calculated in 2D models (Saneinejad et al., 2011 and Allegrini
et al., 2012a) and they approximates better the traditional
values used to calculate the thermal loads of buildings
(ASHRAE, 2009). Further analysis for various parameters,
such as wind velocity and direction, canyon geometry, the
ow eld interaction with an urban boundary layer, and a
comparison between results of the numerical model and
experimental measurements on hc,, will be object of future
work.
References

4. Conclusions
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