| Description |
While it is well accepted that modeling of vegetation in urban areas is important for simulating urban microclimate, most well-known urban models have neglected vegetation, particularly explicit modeling of vegetation elements such as trees. In this study, we quantitatively evaluate mean wind fields generated using the building-resolving Quick Urban Industrial Complex wind model (QUIC-URB) for an urban domain containing a high vegetation fraction, including a large number of trees. A new vegetation model that has both theoretical and empirical features is developed. The performance of this new vegetation model is compared with published wind-tunnel data available in literature and the results show less than 15% relative deviations. Further evaluation is done using mean wind data from a suite of eleven low-cost weather stations that were distributed throughout the University of Utah campus during a 2-year period, from 2015 to 2017. Results are presented for simulations with and without vegetation using different configurations of QUIC's standard canopy vegetation model as well as the newly developed isolated tree model. Preliminary modeling results indicate underestimation of wind speeds in the upwind cavity and building wake zones. However, the outcomes of the newly developed model are in a good agreement with the observed experimental trends in wide open areas and street-canyon regions. |
