Can arrays of building be designed, in such a way that wind can be harnessed?

Question

In modern skyscraper design, building models are subjected to wind tunnel and computerized tests. One design criteria seeks to minimize unwanted wind effects (venturi). Improperly designed layouts can make for nasty gusts between buildings!

Could groups of skyscrapers be made such that this "wind" is optimized for harvesting its energy?

Answer 1

Yes, if you plan the entire downtown area and this is uncommon.

Chicago is known as the windy city and one reason is that its towering skyscrapers form wind channels that take an already brisk wind and step it up a few notches.

You can design buildings to increase pressure so as to use it to run wind propelled turbines and thus create power, but you have another consideration and that is building stability.

There is a famous skyscraper that was designed to stand up, but when the wind load for a hurricane was taken into account it was found the skyscraper would fail and a hurried last minute fix had to be done to the building.  Your city of wind would have to allow for all wind conditions including a storm.  You can't have a system that can handle over 100 mph winds and that is what tornadoes and hurricanes can easily generate.

Then the citizens and traffic that has to move inside of your wind tunnel of a city would have to be protected or face a nightmare.  Imagine a cardboard box, blown by the wind, hitting you at 60 mph!

There are designs for buildings that not only take in account the nearby wind and the wind conditions that they create, but try to generate power from them.  These designs are experimental and untested.  Most often the buildings are designed to REDUCE wind speed around them for safety reasons.

Maybe you could create special wind routes between the buildings and design the buildings to channel the wind only at a fast speed down these routes so as to not interfere with the public, but buildings can't change the direction that they are facing and the wind comes from all different directions.

For now it is best to try and reduce the wind around skyscrapers, maybe take use of it on the roofs with wind powered turbines, but imagine trying to change them in 20 years when they wear out.  The top of the Empire State Building was designed for a blimp mooring platform, but it was never used that way because of the high wind speeds.  If you have a helicopter up there trying to replace a huge wind propeller then you are going to have to face big wind problems.

Wind is a good solution for creating power, but not in this case.  It complicates the design and can create for some nasty conditions if it is not done right.  Further more if you use moving parts to harness the wind then those parts have to be replaced and that can be difficult.  Finally, the increased wind load on buildings can cause structural problems like blowing out the glass so you would need stronger materials and that would bring up the price of those materials.

Answer 2

The design must include round corners to streamline the wind to the direction of an angle of atack in to and open space where air turbine can be place.

Answer 3

yes, but skyscrapers are never designed as a group.