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| Reference Number | EP/V010166/1 | |
| Title | Fluid dynamics of Urban Tall-building clUsters for Resilient built Environments (FUTURE) | |
| Status | Started | |
| Energy Categories | Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research (Energy Models) 10%; Renewable Energy Sources (Wind Energy) 10%; Energy Efficiency (Residential and commercial) 10%; Not Energy Related 70%; |
|
| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering) 100% | |
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Systems Analysis related to energy R&D (Energy modelling) 50%; Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy 50%; |
|
| Principal Investigator |
Prof JF Barlow Meteorology University of Reading |
|
| Award Type | Standard | |
| Funding Source | EPSRC | |
| Start Date | 28 June 2021 | |
| End Date | 27 June 2025 | |
| Duration | 48 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £536,047 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Mechanical engineering | |
| Region | South East | |
| Programme | NC : Engineering | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Prof JF Barlow , Meteorology, University of Reading |
| Other Investigator | Dr O Coceal , University of Reading Professor CSB Grimmond , Meteorology, University of Reading |
|
| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | ||
| Abstract | The world is witnessing rapid urbanisation, where a large percentage of its population is expected to live within urban environments - circa 70% - by 2050 (1). The main solution to urban immigration has been to construct tall buildings (TBs), which allow for a high-density population (and commercial activities) to reside in the hearts of our cities. However, recent years have witnessed increasing concerns regarding public health and wellbeing in dense urban environments. For instance, it is known that the urban heat island effect, where urban areas are typically some degrees hotter than the surrounding rural areas, can contribute to death rates during heatwaves (2). To exacerbate these issues, as recognised by the London Plan (3), ''some climate change is inevitable..." and this is likely to increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, and the consequent urban health risks. The current COVID-19 crisis has also highlighted the importance of predicting pathogen dispersion and of efficient indoor/outdoor ventilation in urban areas (4). It is, therefore, in the public interest to build healthy and sustainable urban environments by ensuring that air quality, transport of pollutant emissions, and the microclimate within cities (e.g. winds, temperatures, pollutant concentrations, and anthropogenic heat) do not reach unsustainable levels from poor urban development planning and lack of strategic directions. Recent initiatives are now promoting research on urban environmental health and sustainability (e.g. Public Health England's project Healthy-Polis). Despite the likely effects of the proliferation of tall structures in exacerbating some of the problems discussed above, current weather and air quality models do not cater for TBs and their long-lasting effects on the winds and temperature fields within urban neighbourhoods. This mostly relates to the dominant small scales of the phenomena under examination, in contrast to the spatial resolution that these models typically achieve (i.e. of the order of hundreds of metres) within the constraints of state-of-the-art computer power, resource availability, and turnaround time. On the other hand, the spatial resolution of computational fluid dynamics methods used in academia is much higher i.e. appropriate to resolve the presence of these urban towers. However, these research simulations often lack much of the physics needed to adequately capture real environmental flows (e.g. atmospheric conditions, heat exchange), and are generally run over much smaller domains. Hence, there is a dual need for more realistic detailed simulations and better parametrisations for larger-scale operational models, with the former informing development of the latter. References (1) Revision of World Urbanization Prospect (2018). DESA, UN. (2) Vardoulakis et al. (2016). Environmental Health 15, S30. (3) The London Plan (2017). Greater London Authority. (4) ECDC Tech. Report (2020). European Centre forDisease Prevention and Control. | |
| Data | No related datasets |
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| Projects | No related projects |
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| Publications | No related publications |
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| Added to Database | 10/09/25 | |
