Outdoor ventilation and urban planning: comparative study between climatic measurements and CFD simulation

Natural ventilation is essential to air quality and is one of the main strategies
to achieve thermal comfort in urban areas in humid tropical regions, such as the study
area in Vitória (Espírito Santo, Brazil). However, the wind is one of the most modified
variables with the urbanization process, which makes it essential to understand the
impact of urban settings in the ventilation natural flow. This phenomenon can be analyzed
through simulations or controlled measurements. The measurements provide valuable aid
in the understanding of the situation, but do not allow the prediction of other scenarios.
However, in urban planning, it is important to consider the long-term phenomenon, so the
computer simulation is an important tool for the prediction of future scenarios. Thus, the
aim of this research was to conduct a comparative study between two method of study
flow field in urban areas: field microclimate measurements and computational fluid
dynamics (CFD). To this end, we selected a region in Vitória where the data were
comparative analyzed. The similarity between the two methodologies predicting the
measured value and especially the flow field behavior validate the CFD as a model capable
of obtaining representative data of the existing situation. The results also point the
software as a valuable tool for urban planning, able to predict different scenarios