3D Radiative and Convective Modeling of Urban Environment: An Example for the City Center of Toulouse

Abstract

A three dimensional tool coupling the thermal energy balance of buildings and the modeling of the atmospheric flow in urban areas has been developed. In this work the effects of complexity in real urban geometry on the interaction between airflows and radiation exchanges with different surfaces is tested. The model results are encouraging and give insight into local surface-atmosphere processes, but further and more rigorous testing has to be performed with other datasets. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.