High-Resolution Urban Wind Risk Assessment for Emergency Management Using UAV–CFD Integrated Modeling
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Coastal cities exposed to extreme wind events are facing increasing challenges in emergency management under climate change. Accurate and high-resolution wind environment information over complex urban terrain is essential for disaster risk assessment and evidence-based emergency planning; however, such information is often unavailable in conventional management practices. This study proposes an integrated UAV–CFD framework to support urban wind risk assessment by combining multi-source geospatial data and high-resolution numerical simulation. A refined urban terrain model with a spatial resolution of 0.5 m was constructed through the fusion of Google Earth data and UAV oblique photogrammetry, and subsequently coupled with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to analyze the urban wind environment. Field measurements obtained from a 50 m wind observation tower were used to validate the simulation results. The results reveal significant wind speed amplification caused by complex terrain and building configurations, with a maximum amplification factor of 1.95 due to the canyon effect. The relative errors between simulated and measured wind speeds and turbulence intensity were generally within 15%, demonstrating the reliability of the proposed framework. By providing high-resolution and spatially explicit wind risk information, this study offers practical decision-support for emergency management, urban planning, and resilience-oriented disaster mitigation in coastal cities.
Source: Sustainability
DOI: 10.3390/su18073268
Institutions: Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Hainan University
Language: English
Topic: Wind and Air Flow Studies
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,896
Award: 热带强风区域台风特性实测及超高层建筑风效应分析方法研究
OpenAlex ID: W7141239964