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  4. Combining computational fluid dynamics and neural networks to characterize microclimate extremes: Learning the complex interactions between meso-climate and urban morphology
 
research article

Combining computational fluid dynamics and neural networks to characterize microclimate extremes: Learning the complex interactions between meso-climate and urban morphology

Javanroodi, Kavan  
•
Nik, Vahid M.
•
Giometto, Marco G.
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July 10, 2022
Science Of The Total Environment

The urban form and extreme microclimate events can have an important impact on the energy performance of buildings, urban comfort and human health. State-of-the-art building energy simulations require information on the urban microclimate, but typically rely on ad-hoc numerical simulations, expensive in-situ measurements, or data from nearby weather stations. As such, they do not account for the full range of possible urban microclimate variability and findings cannot be generalized across urban morphologies. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study proposes two data-driven models to downscale climate variables from the meso to the micro scale in arbitrary urban morphologies, with a focus on extreme climate conditions. The models are based on a feedforward and a deep neural network (NN) architecture, and are trained using results from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of flow over a series of idealized but representative urban environments, spanning a realistic range of urban morphologies. Both models feature a relatively good agreement with corresponding CFD training data, with a coefficient of determination R-2 = 0.91 (R-2 = 0.89) and R-2 = 0.94 (R-2 & nbsp;= 0.92) for spatially-distributed wind magnitude and air temperature for the deep NN (feedforward NN). The models generalize well for unseen urban morphologies and mesoscale input data that are within the training bounds in the parameter space, with a R-2 = 0.74 (R2 = 0.69) and R-2 = 0.81 (R-2 = 0.74) for wind magnitude and air temperature for the deep NN (feedforward NN). The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed CFD-NN models makes them well suited for the design of climate-resilient buildings at the early design stage.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154223
Web of Science ID

WOS:000792112800008

Author(s)
Javanroodi, Kavan  
Nik, Vahid M.
Giometto, Marco G.
Scartezzini, Jean-Louis  
Date Issued

2022-07-10

Publisher

ELSEVIER

Published in
Science Of The Total Environment
Volume

829

Article Number

154223

Subjects

Environmental Sciences

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Environmental Sciences & Ecology

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extreme microclimate conditions

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urban morphology

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cfd simulations

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neural networks

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wind speed

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air temperature

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pedestrian wind environment

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air-flow

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energy-consumption

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cfd simulations

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street canyons

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future climate

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buoyant flows

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data sets

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comfort

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solar

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LESO-PB  
Available on Infoscience
May 23, 2022
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/188080
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