ABSTRACT: Natural ventilation is essential to air quality and is one of the main strategies to achieve thermal comfort in urban areas in humid tropical regions, such as the study area in Vitória (Espírito Santo, Brazil). However, the wind is one of the most modified variables with the urbanization process, which makes it essential to understand the impact of urban settings in the ventilation natural flow. This phenomenon can be analyzed through simulations or controlled measurements. The measurements provide valuable aid in the understanding of the situation, but do not allow the prediction of other scenarios. However, in urban planning, it is important to consider the long-term phenomenon, so the computer simulation is an important tool for the prediction of future scenarios. Thus, the aim of this research was to conduct a comparative study between two method of study flow field in urban areas: field microclimate measurements and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). To this end, we selected a region in Vitória where the data were comparative analyzed. The similarity between the two methodologies predicting the measured value and especially the flow field behavior validate the CFD as a model capable of obtaining representative data of the existing situation. The results also point the software as a valuable tool for urban planning, able to predict different scenarios.
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