TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of the QUIC-URB wind solver and QESRadiant radiation-transfer model using a dense array of urban meteorological observations
AU - Girard, Pascale
AU - Nadeau, Daniel F.
AU - Pardyjak, Eric R.
AU - Overby, Matthew
AU - Willemsen, Peter
AU - Stoll, Rob
AU - Bailey, Brian N.
AU - Parlange, Marc B.
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - This study assesses the performance of QUIC-URB, a fast-response urban flow model, and QESRadiant, a ray tracing radiation transfer model. Both models are components of the QUIC EnvSim 3D urban micro-scale model, which aims to simulate meteorological variables at high spatiotemporal resolution (~1min, ~1m) in urban settings. The evaluation was performed over a 5.85ha sector of a university campus, in which complex 3D building geometry, vegetation, and various surface materials were modelled. First, wind speeds computed with QUIC-URB were compared to 30-min measurements over 10days at 19 locations. Although results showed a significant underestimation for locations in the wake of buildings, considering model assumptions, its inexpensive computational cost, and measurement uncertainty, the agreement between computed and measured wind speeds is good (r2 =0.53, mean absolute error=0.68ms-1). Second, incoming radiation computed with QESRadiant was compared to 2-min measurements over seven clear sky days at 17 locations. Overall, the agreement between computed and measured incoming solar radiation was excellent (r2 =0.95). For both models, simulations were run successfully on a standard laptop machine with highly reasonable computational cost, on the order of minutes.
AB - This study assesses the performance of QUIC-URB, a fast-response urban flow model, and QESRadiant, a ray tracing radiation transfer model. Both models are components of the QUIC EnvSim 3D urban micro-scale model, which aims to simulate meteorological variables at high spatiotemporal resolution (~1min, ~1m) in urban settings. The evaluation was performed over a 5.85ha sector of a university campus, in which complex 3D building geometry, vegetation, and various surface materials were modelled. First, wind speeds computed with QUIC-URB were compared to 30-min measurements over 10days at 19 locations. Although results showed a significant underestimation for locations in the wake of buildings, considering model assumptions, its inexpensive computational cost, and measurement uncertainty, the agreement between computed and measured wind speeds is good (r2 =0.53, mean absolute error=0.68ms-1). Second, incoming radiation computed with QESRadiant was compared to 2-min measurements over seven clear sky days at 17 locations. Overall, the agreement between computed and measured incoming solar radiation was excellent (r2 =0.95). For both models, simulations were run successfully on a standard laptop machine with highly reasonable computational cost, on the order of minutes.
KW - Building resolving
KW - Model validation
KW - Ray-tracing
KW - Urban flow
KW - Urban vegetation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85027510148&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.uclim.2017.08.006
DO - 10.1016/j.uclim.2017.08.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85027510148
VL - 24
SP - 657
EP - 674
JO - Urban Climate
JF - Urban Climate
SN - 2212-0955
ER -