Measurements in an urban-type boundary layer

Wind tunnel measurements of the boundary layer flow over a very rough surface comprising a staggered array of cubes are presented and discussed. Attention is concentrated on the near-wall region, including the canopy region below the tops of the roughness elements. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) and laser Doppler anemometry were used to identify the dominant features of the mean and turbulent flow and these are compared with the better-known features of the flow above the roughness. Spatial correlation data, extracted from the PIV images, are used to provide information about eddy structures and it is shown that these differ in some crucial respects from those typical of more classical boundary layers. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of their relevance to flows within the urban environment.