Critical Assessment of Selected Urban Microclimate Model Frameworks

摘要

This paper presents a critical assessment of six computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. This study describes a few complex CFD frameworks in order to better understand the considerable task that is undertaken when attempting to develop such software. The paper focuses on models that were developed to simulate wind flow and the thermal microclimate around single and/or multiple buildings. Two of the selected models account for one or more embedded tree arrays. Additional information is provided regarding numerical methods, physics/turbulence algorithms, model domain, grid spacing, time-step, runtime, and computer platform. The main difficulties and/or deficiencies with each modeling approach are also discussed. It is anticipated that this study (overall) will provide much useful information, from which to initiate new modeling efforts.