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Urban Environmental Science Lab
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The lab studies urban airflow through wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulation.
AboutAbout the lab
Reading urban airflow through experiments and computation
The Urban Environmental Science Lab studies how wind, heat, and substances are transported in urban spaces lined with buildings.
The background is environmental problems, such as the urban heat island effect and the dispersion of pollutants, that arise as cities become denser and taller.
Using two methods, wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, the lab investigates the relationship between the form of a city and its wind and thermal environments.
The lab is run jointly with the Complex Systems Social Environmental Science Lab and the Sustainable Living Environment Lab, and Prof. Ikegaya is in charge of the urban climatology and wind engineering topics.
Key terms
- Urban heat island effect
- A phenomenon in which air temperatures in urban areas become higher than in the surrounding suburbs
- Wind tunnel experiment
- An experiment in which a model of a city is placed inside a device that creates wind artificially, and the flow of wind and the transport of substances are measured
- Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
- A method of calculating the flow of air and other fluids on a computer to examine the distribution of wind speed and concentration
- Scalar
- A quantity, such as temperature or concentration, that has magnitude only and no direction
ResearchResearch themes
As cities become denser and taller, environmental problems specific to cities arise, such as the urban heat island effect and the dispersion of pollutants within urban spaces. The lab quantitatively evaluates how the form of a city influences the wind and thermal environments inside it, using wind tunnel experiments and CFD analysis.
*Illustrative imagePredicting urban climate and understanding turbulence
The aim is to accurately predict the urban heat island effect and the airflow, energy balance, and pollutant dispersion in street spaces, and to understand the nature of turbulence above the surface of a city lined with buildings. The lab uses wind tunnel experiments, numerical simulation, and outdoor observation.
*Illustrative imageUrban wind studied through wind tunnel experiments
Models of urban form built from simple arrangement patterns are placed in a wind tunnel, and the lab directly measures the momentum and scalar fluxes that capture the system as a whole. From the results, it models these fluxes in terms of geometric parameters.
*Illustrative imagePedestrian-level wind studied through CFD analysis
The lab uses CFD analysis to examine the spatial distribution of flow and substance concentration inside urban spaces, especially at pedestrian level, which is difficult to measure in experiments. It attempts to clarify the relationship between the pedestrian-level wind and thermal environments and the form of the city.
MembersFaculty
The Urban Environmental Science Lab is run jointly with the Complex Systems Social Environmental Science Lab and the Sustainable Living Environment Lab, and the staff page lists a Professor, a secretary, and a Professor Emeritus.
- ProfessorNaoki Ikegaya
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Skyline Tower LIC 2020 jeh” Jim.henderson / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Predicting urban climate and understanding turbulence: “Quebec City skyline from a park” Wilfredor / CC0 (cropped)
- Urban wind studied through wind tunnel experiments: “EXPERIMENTAL WIND TUNNEL DEVICE BUILT AT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY. SMOKE IS PIPED INTO THIS MODEL OF THE CITY OF... - NARA - 543737” Bill Gillette / Public domain (cropped)
- Pedestrian-level wind studied through CFD analysis: “Pedestrian wind barrier, Great Wilson Street - geograph.org.uk - 5667159” Stephen Craven / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Energy and Thermophysical Science Lab): “Close-up of a Fire” Thomas Kirchel / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Mass Transfer and Reaction Engineering Lab): “Hydrogen (Element - 1)” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Building Environmental Engineering Lab): “Buildings in Orekhovo-Zuevo. Ventilation on the roof of the building 02” Dmitry Makeev / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Environmental Fluid Systems Lab): “Drilling Rig Ocean Nomad and Natal Wreck Buoy - geograph.org.uk - 5100328” David Dixon / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
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