The Potential of One-Sided Traditional Windcatchers for Outdoor Use as a Sustainable Urban Feature

Abstract

Urbanization is exacerbating heat islands, causing adverse effects on life and health, including thermal stress. This highlights the importance of using natural resources for thermal regulation, particularly through historically employed passive strategies. Windcatchers have traditionally been installed in arid and hot areas to provide thermal comfort (TC), especially in indoor spaces. However, despite significant internal shape development, a notable gap remains in exploring their outdoor applications. This paper investigates a new integrated design for a one-sided windcatcher, which captures wind through a single inlet by combining traditional principles with modern sustainable features, such as green façade, to enhance outdoor urban space. The design concept was developed in two stages: the “Initial Design Step” and the “Geometrical Assessment”, utilizing iterative computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of windcatchers for outdoor applications using an upstream, curved shaft and guide vanes, tested at wind velocities of 1.5 m/s for a 5 m high windcatcher and 4 m/s for a 10 m high windcatcher. The study revealed a meaningful relationship among the parameters, as they influence each other. Achieving optimal performance requires careful control of the parameters, such as balancing the inner wall curvature and inlet size to optimize airflow dynamics. In urban contexts, turbulence and morphology affect airflow but can be mitigated through regionally tailored windcatcher designs. Nevertheless, several critical research gaps remain, highlighting the windcatcher’s potential for improvement and the need for further investigation in future studies.

Keywords

• windcatcher
• computational fluid dynamics
• outdoor thermal comfort
• urban design
• optimization