International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163

Volume 1 Issue 5 (June 2014) http://ijirae.com

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2014, IJIRAE- All Rights Reserved Page - 118

Designing the City According to the Wind: Using WAsP to
Minimize the Impacts of High Rise Building Complex on
Human Comfort
Ar. Seemi Ahmed
Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture and
Planning, M.A. National Institute of Technology, Bhopal
India,

Dr. Alka Bharat
Professor in Department of Architecture and Planning,
M.A. National Institute of Technology, Bhopal,
India

Abstract: -- Buildings should provide shelter for human activities. With increasing urbanization and increasing
urban population the cities are forced to grow vertically. This increase in high rise buildings density influences the
outdoor climate especially the wind climate. This paper is focussed on the wind flow patterns around high rise
building complex. Incorporation of wind in design process in an important issue, therefore, the design of a building
should not only focus on the building envelope and on providing good indoor environment, but should also include
the effect of the design on the outdoor environment. The outdoor environment of a building, in particular related to
wind, has received relatively little attention in the Building Physics community. The present paper addresses
architects and planners and focuses on the outdoor wind environment for human comfort first, a literature review on
related wind studies is provided. The relation between wind effects, wind comfort, wind danger and wind climate is
outlined.
Key words: Wind Flow Patterns, WAsP, Urban roughness, Micro climate

I. INTRODUCTION
Architects, amongst others, deal with the indoor and outdoor climate and the building envelope. The outdoor climate
has received relatively little attention in the physical planning community. Where it has been addressed, it has mainly
been in order to provide boundary conditions for the study of the indoor climate and of the hygro-thermal behaviour and
durability of the building envelope, but not for the outdoor climate itself. The construction of a High Rise building
inevitably changes the outdoor climate or the microclimate. Wind speed, wind direction, air pollution, driving rain,
radiation and daylight are all examples of physical aspects that constitute the micro climate and that are changed by the
presence of the building. The change of these quantities depends on the shape, size and orientation of the building and on
the interaction of the building with the surrounding buildings and other obstacles such as trees etc. These changes can be
either favourable or unfavourable. Unfavourable changes include: increased wind speeds around the building leading to
uncomfortable or even dangerous conditions, decreased wind speeds leading to insufficient removal and accumulation of
traffic or industrial exhaust gasses, shadowing or reflection of sunlight by the building, visual pollution acoustical
changes, etc. Increased wind speed at ground level is one of the problems that are considered most important. The present
paper will be confined to this aspect of the outdoor climate around a high rise building complex.
Verifying natural ventilation, micro climatic modifications and human comfort conditions through models assists the
architectural design and urban planning process. Wind tunnel tests, soft-wares or mathematical models are important
tools in the analysis of micro wind climate changes, allowing greater precision in the airflow assessment in internal and
external environments, Prata-Shimomura el al [2009]
II. WIND EFFECTS, WIND COMFORT, WIND DANGER AND WIND CLIMATE
A distinction is made between the mechanical and the thermal effects of wind. Mechanical effects of wind on people
range from the feeling of a light breeze on the skin to being blown over by a strong gale. [Lawson and Penwarden 1976]
have provided an extended "Land Beaufort Scale" showing wind effects on people. The tabulated wind speed refers to
the value that is measured at pedestrian height (z =1.75 m) over open terrain with an aerodynamic roughness length z0 of
1.0 m . It is important to note that the measurement values are averaged over periods of 10 minutes or 1 hour (steady
wind). The wind effects mentioned however can be caused by both steady wind and wind gusts (turbulence).
Steady wind effects have been investigated by Penwarden [1978], Hunt et al. [1976], Penwarden et al. [1978], Murakami
et al. [1980] and Murakami [1980]. From an extensive study, Murakami et al. [1980] have found that a steady wind of 5
m/s only causes a minor disturbance of hair and clothes and wind is felt on the face, a steady wind of 10 m/s causes hair
to be disturbed and fluttering clothes, while a steady wind of 25-33 m/s will blow people away. Comparing these values
with the values in Table 1 provides an indication of the importance of wind gusts in wind effects. The effects of non-
uniform winds on people have been studied by Murakami et al. In a wind tunnel, people were asked to walk through a jet
of strong side winds and footstep irregularities were monitored. It was found that these irregularities were roughly
comparable with wind effects in uniform flow with a speed of 1.5 times the wind speed in the jet. The effects of gusty
winds on people have been studied by (in chronological order): [Hunt and Poulton 1983], [Hunt et al. 1976], [Jackson
1978], Murakami et al. [1980, 1986], [Murakami 1982] and [Ansley 1977]. According to calculations by [Simoes 1996],
a sudden increase of wind speed to 15 m/s or more can be sufficient to bring people out of balance. Summarizing the
results of other researchers, Beufort [1977] states that: a gust of 4 m/s during 5 s causes hair to be disturbed and clothes
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
Volume 1 Issue 5 (June 2014) http://ijirae.com

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2014, IJIRAE- All Rights Reserved Page - 119

to flap, a gust of 7 m/s during 5 s can cause hair to be disarranged, a gust of 15 m/s during 2 s can bring people out of
balance and is dangerous for the elderly and the infirm, a gust of 20 m/s can be dangerous, even for young people and a
gust of 23 m/s will blow people over. Comparing these values with those given above for steady winds [Murakami et al.
[1980] again indicate the importance of wind gusts in wind effects: for the same wind effect, gust wind speeds are
significantly less.

Recent studies have analysed the role of urban street width and street building heights, wind direction and velocity [e.g.
Berkowicz et al., 2006; Di Sabatino et al., 2007a,b; Di Sabatino et al., 2008; Soulhac et al., 2008], building roof geometry
[e.g. Huang et al., 2009], tree planting [e.g. Gromke et al., 2008; Buccolieri et al., 2009], building packing density [e.g.
Belcher et al., 2003; Cheng et al., 2007; Blocken et al., 2008]. As the wind speed increased, its negative impact on the
city became clearer, and the tree falls were directly related to it. Between 12.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m., the wind speed varied
between 13 m/s and 15 m/s and 80% of the trees fell, (28 of the total of 35). This peak in occurrences coincided with the
period of maximum gust (27m/s). The distribution of occurrences was analysed in relation to the different land uses and
ventilation classes defined for the city of Lisbon [Alcoforado et al, 2005]. It was found that 41% of the fallen trees took
place in densely built-up areas (where at least 50% of the area is covered with high-density buildings) in the southern part
of the city, and 20% in green areas. Although these districts have greater roughness length (z001 m) and therefore
diminish regional wind speed by about 30% comparing with non-occupied areas [Lopes, 2003]. Specifically, the
objective of this work is to identify the impacts of tall buildings and constructive densification on human comfort after
turbulence studies over the southeast part of Bhopal in India, once this sector of the city is experiencing an urban
expansion process closely linked to the main New market. Comparing a maximum Building Density scenario with taller
buildings and lower urban roughness allowed by local authority to the present situation and an intermediate proposal with
medium height buildings with moderate roughness, this research verifies the airflow conditions in several points of the
study-area.
III.COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATION
a) The Pilot Study: Platinum Plaza Bhopal
Platinum Plaza is a residential cum commercial High Rise Complex having 10 floors with a overall height of 30 mtrs and
is considered highest buildings of Bhopal. Bhopal is the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the
administrative headquarters of Bhopal District and Bhopal Division.. Bhopal is known as the City of Lakes for its various
natural as well as artificial lakes and is also one of the greenest cities in India. A B-1 class city, Bhopal houses various
institutions of national importance. Platinum Plaza is situated in the area developed in 1956 of this city.
b) DESCRIPTION OF THE MONITORING SITE

Survey of India, Topo Sheet 55-E/7 -E/8 (1:50,000 Scale). Has been obtained from the Geological Survey of India in
which the contours of the site near Bhopal are shown. This site has been chosen for the study (Fig. 3). The site under
consideration covers an area of approximately 56 square kilometres in linear topography, interspersed with thick
vegetation roads and urban dwellings. These areas were marked off separately in the vector map giving roughness values
as defined by WAsP and given in Table 1.The map of the whole area was digitised.

Fig. 3.0 Study Site with Platinum Plaza and 12 samples in four cardinal directions
International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN: 2349-2163
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2014, IJIRAE- All Rights Reserved Page - 120


Table 1. Terrain classification due to Davenport and quoted by Wieringa (1)
class Roughness
length: m
Landscape features
no name
1 Sea 0.0002 open water, tidal flat, snow with fetch above 3 km
2 smooth 0.005 featureless land, ice
3 Open 0.03 flat terrain with grass or very low vegetation, airport runway
4 roughly
open
0.10 cultivated area, low crops, obstacles of height H separated by at least 20
H
5 rough 0.25 open landscape, scattered shelter belts, obstacles separated by 15 H or so
6 very rough 0.5 landscape with bushes, young dense forest etc separated by 10 H or so
7 closed 1.0 open spaces comparable with H, eg mature forest, low-rise built-up area
8 chaotic over 2.0 irregular distribution of large elements, eg city centre, large forest with
clearings

c) HUMAN COMFORT AROUND A HIGH RISE BUILDING COMPLEX

[Murakami et al 1980] carried out several outdoor experiments, mainly walking tests. Wind effects on clothes, hair and
walking were observed from instantaneous gust speeds of about 7m/s . Murakami choose to co-relate wind effects on
people with a mean wind speed averaged over 10 seconds. This result is in a poor co-relation between wind speeds and
wind effects. Still it can be concluded from his results that U
10
<10m/s the effect of head winds on walking is much larger
than the effect of tail winds. For validation extensive field surver was carried out and human comfort results were
correlated with the table developed by Murakami 1980 (table.2)

TABLE 2: WIND EFFECTS ON PEOPLE AS A FUNCTION OF GUST SPEED UG AND ESTIMATED GUST
DURATION TG, DATA ARE FROM M ( MELBOURNE ET AL) MU MURAKAMI ET AL, 1980, JA (JACKSON,
1978) AND B THE EXTENDED BEAUFORT SCALE (PENWARDEN, 1973)
Ug m/s tg (s) author Wind effect
4 5
5
B/JA
B/JA
Clothing flaps ,
Hair is disturbed
7 1-10
5

B/JA
Dust and paper being raised,
Hair disarranged
10 3
5
10
MU
JA
JA
Irregular footsteps,
walking difficult to control,
eyes felt dry violent flapping of clothes
14 2
10
JA
JA
Blown sideways,
appreciably slowed into wind
15 2
3
MU People can be brought out of balance by gusts, walking difficult
16 10
10
JA
JA
Almost halted into wind,
uncontrolled walking down wind
20 3 M Great difficulty in balance with gust
21 2 JA Unbalanced, grabbing at supports
23 3 M People blown over by gusts

d) PREPARATION OF VECTOR MAP

[Mortensen et al, 2000] have reported that it is possible to obtain accurate assessment of stable wind flows which are
close to the measured values with maps of 8 x 8 sq. km and the influence of contour interval on the accuracy of wind
speed prediction. Prediction errors can be reduced with smaller contour intervals with a contour interval of 20 m or less.
In the present study area within 500 mtrs around Platinum Plaza has been considered.
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The topography map has been obtained from Geological Survey of India and the detailed surface features based on aerial
photography conducted by the National Remote Sensing Agency were available as 2 x 2 sq. km tiles in the AutoCAD
dwg format. These 6 layer map provide contours at 1 m intervals, trees, buildings, temples, tombs, electric and telegraph
poles, waterways, marshy areas, roads, footpaths etc in different layers.
Information relevant to WAsP, namely contours, open areas, trees, water bodies and buildings were retained by switching
off the unwanted layers. Such tiles were joined together in the AutoCAD software and saved as dxf files (drawing
exchange format), which could be imported into the WAsP Map Editor. In this study, contour intervals at 5 m were
retained and imported into the WAsP Map Editor for calculating the wind flows throughout the area. The map was
transformed to the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection with the datum of WGS 1984. The area falls in
Zone 43 with the central meridian of +75 E.


Fig.4 Raster map of platinumplaza with study area marked as concentric rings

e) SPECIFYING OBSTACLES NEAR MEASURING SITE
For the study 12 buildings structures situated in four cardinal directions around Platinum plaza were selected out of
which one in cardinal direction was modelled taking Platinum Plaza as an obstacle . Obstacle present near the measuring
site affect the wind data collected and it depends Upon Building porosity and roughness of the area. Obstacles are
considered by WAsP as boxes with a rectangular cross-section and footprint. Obstacle must be specified by its position
relative to the site and its dimensions and must be assigned a porosity value. The position of an obstacle is specified in a
local, polar coordinate system. Angles (bearings measured with a compass) are given clockwise from north; distance is
the radial length from the site to the corner of the obstacle (measured with a measuring tape or a range finder). As a
general rule, the porosity can be set equal to zero for buildings and ~0.5 for trees. A row of similar buildings with a
separation between them of one third the length of a building will have a porosity of about 0.33. For windbreaks the
characteristics defined in WAsP may be applied. The porosity of trees changes with the level of foliation, i.e. the time of
year and similar to the roughness length, the porosity should be considered as a climatologically influenced parameter.

IV. OBSERVATION AND CONCLUSIONS FROM THE STUDY
It is seen from the analysis of observed wind Flow Patterns for the six peak wind months for the site that the site is
endowed different kind of wind patterns around it. However, it is also seen that the average wind speed calculated for
different months owing to uneven wind speed distribution due to a strong influence of the Obstacle Platinum Plaza in the
urban area is modifying the wind flow patterns. The wind rose showing the wind direction, duration and speed are shown
in table 2 with their associated wind climate chart.
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For the sample 1 situated on the East of Platinum Plaza wind flow from modelling shows that there is disturbed wind
showing turbulence and sudden fluxes of wind. Fig. 4 sample 1
For sample 2 situated on the North of Platinum Plaza wind flow from modelling shows that there is increase of 90% in
the wind speed as compared to the prevailing wind the direction remains the same from west Fig. 4 sample 2
For sample 3 situated on the West of platinum Plaza there was a reverse flow of wind, the wind was blowing from East
direction where as the velocity was reduced to 20% of the prevailing wind. Fig. 4 sample 3
For sample 4 situated on the South of Platinum Plaza wind flow from modelling shows that there is increase of 90% in
the wind speed as compared to the prevailing wind the direction remains the same from west. Fig. 4 sample 4.
The building complex located in Bhopal has been investigated taking into account local wind conditions. The analysis
was limited to wind speed distribution around buildings. The highest wind speeds have been noted in passages between
windward buildings. Wind speed ratios in these areas vary between 1.8 and 2.7. The open character of the buildings
complex as well as their height simplifies ventilation process but also disturbs the wind flow. The situation could be
improved by introducing windbreaks. Windbreaks are built using various materials and techniques. They can consist of
trees, fences palisades, walls or earth berms . Taking into account the fact that west winds are prevailing and that the area
is covered only by grass, the construction of the windbreaks on the west side can provide shelter for the buildings. The
analysis dealing with the influence of different windbreaks on wind flow in housing estate, carried out by authors,
indicate positive role of shelterbelts. The high porosity of the trees decreases the kinetic energy of the wind and at the
same time doesnt allow for local acceleration near the corners. The maximum difference in V/Vo was about 0.7.
Besides, the sheltering role of trees can also have a significant influence on the noise and pollution control as well as
microclimate and visual effects. The urban planners didnt cover the wind comfort requirements during the planning
process which exposed the residents to wind nuisance. The modelling results corroborate with the assumption that the
verticalization of the city and a lower building density allow better air circulation within the city fabric since this urban
form is more permeable to the wind. On the other hand, the elevation of the urban roughness layer and the reduction of
the air velocity at the immediately posterior regions are the main effects of this urban form. Although the study of natural
ventilation conditions should be considered at specific conditions of each locality, since the conditions of air circulation
are easily changed by the construction parameters, this research might help urban design process specifically in parts of
the city in constructive densification process, indicating that, despite the increase in height, the higher building densities
may cause the stagnation of the airflow even if it is associated with lower buildings height.

V. PLANNING OPTIONS

Narrowing the streets of S/h=1 instead of 2 yields almost the same result but with 10-20% lower turbulence
levels. In these narrow streets flow channelling may become important. Initial conditions, which are generated
by the high rise building, may be maintained for several street widths.
Building symmetrical conditionswhen the wind is perpendicular to the symmetrical blocks, changes in a
symmetrical way may have little influence to wind conditionshowever there is still comparability that the long
side can influence winds conditions a little more.
Enlarging of spaces could involved increasing of winds speed.
The open character of the buildings complex as well as their height simplifies ventilation process but also
disturbs the wind flow. The situation could be improved by introducing windbreaks.
Besides, the sheltering role of trees can also have a significant influence on the noise and pollution control as
well as microclimate and visual effects [Vinet, et al].

a) Breezeway/air path
The more air ventilation to the streets, the better it will be for these dense urban areas. The overall permeability of the
district has to be increased at the ground level. This is to ensure that the prevailing wind travelling along breezeways and
major roads can penetrate deep into the district. This can be achieved by proper linking of open spaces, creation of open
plazas at road junctions, routes, and widening of the minor roads connecting to major roads. maintaining low-rise
structures along prevailing wind direction Also avoid obstructing the sea breeze. Any localized wind problem along the
waterfront should be dealt with locally and not affect the overall air ventilation of the city.
b) Podium/site coverage
The effect of building layout (especially in terms of building site coverage) has a greater impact than that of building
height on the pedestrian wind environment. Stepping building heights in rows would create better wind at higher levels if
differences in building heights between rows are significant. The podium structures commonly found in Hong Kong
are not desirable from the viewpoint of maximizing the wind available to pedestrians. The podia with large site coverage
not only block most of the wind to pedestrians (affecting comfort and air quality), but also minimize the air volume
near the pedestrian level (affecting air quality)
c) Building disposition
Proper orientation and layout of the buildings with adequate gaps between buildings are needed. Stagger the arrangement
of the blocks such that the blocks behind are able to receive the wind penetrating through the gaps between the blocks in
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the front row. In the case of a new town, to avoid obstruction of the sea breeze, the axis of the buildings should be
parallel to the prevailing wind. In order to maximize the wind availability to pedestrians, towers should preferably abut
the podium edge that faces the main pedestrian area/street so as to enable most of the downwash wind to reach the street
level.
d) Building heights
Vary the heights of the blocks with decreasing heights towards the direction where the prevailing wind comes from. If
not, it is better to have varying heights rather than similar/uniform height. Given the extremely high density of the urban
fabric and narrow streets, a probable strategy for improving air ventilation is by varying building heights for diverting
winds to the lower levels. Nonetheless, assessment will be required to further quantify the actual performance of such
potential strategies in view of the common deep urban canyon situations in Bhopal.

e) Building permeability
The provision of permeability/gaps nearer to the pedestrian level is far more important than that at high levels. Create
permeability in the housing blocks. Try to create voids at ground level to improve ventilation for pedestrians. This will
improve not only the air movement at the ground level (thus improving pedestrian comfort), but also help to remove
pollutants and heat generated at ground level. The channelling effect created by the void also helps to improve ventilation
performance for those residential units at the lower floors. Creation of openings in the building blocks to increase their
permeability may be combined with appropriate wing walls that will contribute to pressure differences across the
building faades and thus will permit the air to flow through the openings of the buildings. The wing walls have to be
designed according to the known standards. For very deep canyons or very tall building blocks, mid-level permeability
may be required to improve the ventilation performance for those occupants situated mid-floor.

f) A need for planning to optimize air ventilation
It was in general expertly opined that unlike most cities in the world, wind gust may not be a problem in Hong Kong. On
the contrary, wind stagnation and blockage is a major problem. And for the tropical climatic conditions of Hong Kong
where wind in the summer is a welcome quality, it was opined unanimously that the more the better should be the
guiding spirit. That is to say, designs and developments should focus on not blocking the incoming wind, as well as
minimizing the stagnant zones at the pedestrian levels.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The urban planners didnt cover the wind comfort requirements during the planning process which exposed the residents
to wind nuisance. The modelling results corroborate with the assumption that the verticalization of the city and a lower
building density allow better air circulation within the city fabric since this urban form is more permeable to the wind. On
the other hand, the elevation of the urban roughness layer and the reduction of the air velocity at the immediately
posterior regions are the main effects of this urban form. Although the study of natural ventilation conditions should be
considered at specific conditions of each locality, since the conditions of air circulation are easily changed by the
construction parameters, this research might help urban design process specifically in parts of the city in constructive
densification process, indicating that, despite the increase in height, the higher building densities may cause the
stagnation of the airflow even if it is associated with lower buildings height

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4. Davenport, A.G. An approach to human comfort criteria for environmental conditions, Colloquium on Building
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5. Rafail, Tony Developing habitable Built Environment CUTBH 8
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