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Wind-Speed Profile and Roughness Sublayer Depth Modelling in Urban Boundary Layers

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Abstract

We propose a new formulation for the wind-speed profile in the urban boundary layer, which can be viewed as a generalisation of the commonly used logarithmic law. The model is based on the assumption that the role played by the classical aerodynamic roughness length and the displacement height in the logarithmic law is taken by a sole variable, the local length scale, which follows a pattern of exponential decrease with height. Starting from wind-speed profiles collected at Villa Pamphili park, Rome, Italy, an empirical fit is used to determine the model parameters. The results show that the local length scale depends also on the friction velocity and that, with appropriate normalization, it reduces to a family of curves that spreads according to the planar area fraction. Another novel aspect is the estimation of the roughness sublayer depth, which can be expressed as a function of the friction velocity and morphometric quantities such as the building height and the planar area fraction. It is also found that the rate of growth with height of the Prandtl mixing length linked to the new formulation is, just above the canopy, lower than the canonical value 0.41, and approaches the latter value well above the roughness sublayer. The model performance is tested by comparison with laboratory and field data reported in the literature.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Claudio Gariazzo of the Park Service of Rome Municipality for his collaboration during the field campaign and Maria Paola Bogliolo for her help in managing the building database. The assistance of Annalisa Di Bernardino for the water-channel data analysis is greatly appreciated. The research was partially funded by the Italian Ministry of Health (project ITALIA, PMS/025/2003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INAIL-DIMEILA, Via Fontana Candida 1, Monteporzio Catone, 00040, Rome, Italy

    Armando Pelliccioni

  2. DICEA, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184, Rome, Italy

    Armando Pelliccioni, Paolo Monti & Giovanni Leuzzi

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  1. Armando Pelliccioni
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  2. Paolo Monti
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Correspondence to Paolo Monti.

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Pelliccioni, A., Monti, P. & Leuzzi, G. Wind-Speed Profile and Roughness Sublayer Depth Modelling in Urban Boundary Layers. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 160, 225–248 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-016-0141-1

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