Simulations provide insight into improving living conditions in dense urban areas

Skyway bridges —used to connect high-rises in urban environments — can affect the livability of an area due to safety concerns surrounding wind. Chen et al. simulated how skyway bridges, also called skybridges, alter wind patterns around high-rise buildings, focusing on wind interactions in dense urban settings.

The study revealed that these lofted bridges significantly impact wind behavior around high-rise buildings. Upstream skyways increase wind flow, while downstream, they decrease wind speeds due to sheltering effects. Additionally, the height of buildings adjacent to a skyway bridge affects wind velocity and pressure, with taller buildings amplifying wind speeds at lower levels due to channeling effects.

“Proper design and placement of skyway bridges can moderate wind speeds, improving pedestrian comfort and safety by reducing adverse wind effects,” author Yu-Hsuan Juan said. “By addressing the effects of skyway bridge, building height, configuration, and bridge location, our research offers practical guidelines for urban planners and architects to improve the livability of high-rise districts.”

To model wind behavior, the team used advanced computational fluid dynamics simulations, which they validated with wind tunnel test data. The study also employed three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and the Reynolds stress model (RSM) for turbulence closure.

Future work may explore more design parameters of skyway bridges, such as different geometries, to further optimize skybridges for wind conditions. Investigating characteristics like more complex city layouts, bridge locations, time-varying wind conditions, and pedestrian movements using dynamic simulations and other methods would also enable more realistic assessments of comfort and safety.

Source: “Wind characteristics around a skyway bridge of high-rise buildings,” by Wan-Yi Chen, Yu-Li Su, and Yu-Hsuan Juan, Physics of Fluids (2024). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0216665 .

This paper is part of the Flow and Civil Structures Collection, learn more here .