Urban Wind Effects on UAV Operations in Building-Dense Low-Altitude Airspace

Abstract

Urban low-altitude uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) operations are shaped by building-modified wind and constrained terrain-building clearance. Spatially heterogeneous wind can perturb short-horizon motion, but its clearance consequence depends on local airspace: similar perturbations may remain benign in open areas yet become clearance-sensitive near building walls, roof edges, or elevated terrain. This study develops a common-basis method for early clearance assessment before route buffers or corridor alignments are fixed. For each position-height state, nominal and wind-affected vehicle-sized trajectory envelopes are generated with a shared heading and sampling design, separating fixed-support wind loading, initial clearance exposure, and wind-induced clearance change. Applied to Shanghai and Beijing, the method uses lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM) wind fields co-registered with 20 m terrain-building scene grids, height layers of 60-340 m, and a representative light UAV. Results show distinct spatial and vertical patterns in baseline wind loading and clearance exposure. Wind-affected envelopes produce little domain-wide median shift in clearance exposure but generate spatially concentrated upper-tail responses in lower-altitude layers on the normalized clearance-exposure scale. Kilometer-Tile-level analysis links these responses mainly to baseline clearance sensitivity and horizontal wind-gradient magnitude, with fixed-support wind loading and mean wind speed playing secondary roles. Low-altitude planning should distinguish wind-loaded locations from clearance-sensitive locations. As an upstream diagnostic, the method identifies units where nominal trajectory envelopes approach terrain-building margins and local wind variation may further alter clearance exposure, with increases concentrated in the upper tail.