Urban complexity and coupled CFD / thermo radiative modeling: a review of case studies

Recent computational improvements allow for wind and thermal simulations on more complex urban configurations. Their thermo-aeraulic features can now be investigated by more sophisticated CFD models, coupled with energy ones. By assessing more accurately micro-climatic conditions, their suitability for both human comfort and building energy consumption prediction is increased.  Such coupled studies already exist but are still scarce. They highlight the impact of urban morphology and its complexity on induced flow phenomena and radiative exchanges. They enable parametric investigations but also uncover new research tracks.  This paper reviews and analyzes some of them from three complementary aspects: their urban model, their physical and numerical hypothesis and their validation method. Then, improvements enabled and sensible aspects stressed by such approaches are discussed.