Evaluating the impact of urban multifunctional walls on pedestrian wind comfort on street sidewalks (Case study: Tabriz City)

Wind comfort in cold climates is one of the most essential factors for urban planners. This issue is particularly important for sidewalks that are in line with the prevailing wind flow and surrounded by high-rise buildings. Imam Street near the University Square in Tabriz is one of the passages that struggle with uncomfortable wind speeds. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of sidewalk walls on pedestrian wind comfort. These multifunctional walls not only serve as street furniture, but also reduce wind speed at pedestrian level. In this work, all simulations are performed using the RWIND tool and validated by wind tunnel experiments at the Architectural Institute of Japan. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of the angle, height and spacing of the walls on wind attenuation at pedestrian level. The results show the effect of multifunctional walls on pedestrian-level wind mitigation. By rotating the windbreak walls from 0 to 60 degrees along the street, the average wind speed decreases by 30% to 46% compared to a situation without this type of wall. Increasing the wall height from 1.5 to 2 meters reduces the urban wind speed by 39-46%. However, increasing the distance between the sidewalk walls from 3.5-9.5 meters reduces the speed in the models from 46% to 32.7%. Finally, it has been demonstrated that sidewalk walls with a height of 2 meters, a rotation angle of 60° and a distance of 3.5 meters are the optimal choice for wind attenuation at pedestrian level.