This book is highly suitable for advanced courses asit introduces state-of-the-art information and the latest research results ondiverse problems in the environmental wind engineering field. The topics includeindoor natural ventilation, pedestrian wind environment, pollutant dispersion,urban heat island phenomena, urban ventilation, indoor/outdoor thermal comfort,and experimental/numerical techniques to analyze those issues.
Winds have a great influence on the outdoorenvironment, especially in urban areas. Problems that they cause can beattributed to either strong wind or weak wind issues. Strong winds aroundhigh-rise buildings can bring about unpleasant, and in some cases dangerous,situations for people in the outdoor environment. On the other hand, weak windconditions can also cause problems such as air pollution and heat islandphenomena in urban areas. Winds enhance urban ventilation and reduce thoseproblems. They also enhance natural ventilation in buildings, which can reducethe energy consumption of mechanical ventilation fans and air conditioners forcooling. Moderate winds improve human thermal comfort in both indoor andoutdoor environments in summer. Environmental wind engineering associated withwind tunnel experiments and numerical analysis can contribute to solutions tothese issues.