The Role of Curved Buildings in Urban Wind

Buildings in the urban environment modify the wind speed and cause it to accelerate above and on the sides of them. This fact can be used as an energy resource. The integration of wind turbines in buildings is becoming a new possibility and has begun to be studied in university research centers in wind energy, mainly in Europe. We are currently evaluating, through wind tunnel tests, building shapes that can capture wind within the atmospheric boundary layer, in particular, buildings with curved shapes. For this study, wind turbines should preferably be of the vertical axis type, in particular simple technology with a low power coefficient (Cp). However, when capturing wind at high speed, it raises the wind power with the cube of its speed. So, the study is aimed at how much the intensity of wind speed increases in the environment of buildings with curvature.