There is a strong global trend towards urbanization. Urban heat island effects and pollutant dispersion may have detrimental impacts on the urban climate and in consequence on human comfort and health, on energy demands, and on building structures.

Our research aims at advancing the understanding of urban physical processes leading to the development of new strategies in the design of sustainable cities, i.e. to reduce energy demand for heating and cooling and to improve urban comfort and health.

The urban micro-climate, i.e. the link between the global mesoscale climate and the building itself, is the determining factor for the building energy demand, and the comfort and health of the people residing in the urban space.

Current research focuses on heat islands, pollutant dispersion, driving rain, evapotranspiration, turbulence and buoyancy. Advanced measurement techniques in an atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) wind tunnel and sophisticated modelling tools based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are combined to gain understanding in the heat, air and moisture flow at the scale of buildings, street canyons, neighbourhoods and urban areas

Contact: Viktor Dorer

Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel

Viktor Dorer, Thijs Defraeye (K.U.Leuven)

Pollutant dispersion in street canyons

Peter Moonen

Urban climate and impact on energy demand in buildings

Saba Saneinejad, Jonas Allegrini, Viktor Dorer