Integrated modeling of pedestrian energy exchange and thermal comfort in urban street canyons

An open-air scale model is used to quantify pedestrian radiative and convective energy exchanges in street canyons of varying geometry, as well as surface-atmosphere energy exchanges above the urban canopy. A semi-empirical model based on measured data in summer is developed to link between the two levels, for the prediction of pedestrian energy exchange within a given street canyon based on climatic conditions above the street array. The relationships identified in the semi-empirical model are then tested with an independent data set from the winter season, demonstrating that the semi-empirical model may be used to predict the effect of street geometry on pedestrian comfort under varying seasonal conditions. Finally, the estimation of pedestrian energy exchange by street geometry is refined to include the effects of humidity and evaporative heat loss along with radiation and convection, and results are used to correlate between physiological energy exchange and thermal sensation, which is a more direct measure of human thermal comfort. The results reinforce previous findings, which indicate that in a hot-arid climate, compact street canyons can substantially reduce overall pedestrian thermal discomfort if their axis orientation is approximately north–south, while in east–west oriented canyons the effect of street proportions is much less pronounced.     

Numerical study on the effects of aspect ratio and orientation of an urban street canyon on outdoor thermal comfort in hot and dry climate

This paper discusses the contribution of street design, i.e. aspect ratio (or height-to-width ratio, H/W) and solar orientation, towards the development of a comfortable microclimate at street level for pedestrians. The investigation is carried out by using the three-dimensional numerical model ENVI-met, which simulates the microclimatic changes within urban environments in a high spatial and temporal resolution. Model calculations are run for a typical summer day in Ghardaia, Algeria (32.40°N, 3.80°E, 469 m a.s.l.), a region characterized by a hot and dry climate. Symmetrical urban canyons, with various height-to-width ratios (i.e. H/W=0.5, 1, 2 and 4) and different solar orientations (i.e. E–W, N–S, NE–SW and NW–SE), have been studied. Special emphasis is placed on a human bio-meteorological assessment of these microclimates by using the physiologically equivalent temperature (PET).     

Pedestrian wind comfort around a large football stadium in an urban environment: CFD simulation, validation and application of the new Dutch wind nuisance standard

Three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are used in combination with the new Dutch wind nuisance standard to assess pedestrian wind comfort around a large football stadium in Amsterdam, before and after the addition of new high-rise buildings. The focus of the study is on the elevated circulation deck and the surrounding streets and squares. CFD validation is performed by comparison of the simulated mean wind speed at the deck with full-scale measurements. The important effect of local ground roughness specification on the simulated wind speed values is indicated. Application of the Dutch wind nuisance standard shows that wind comfort at the elevated circulation deck is only slightly influenced by the new buildings. Wind comfort at the surrounding streets and squares however significantly deteriorates. Finally, the results obtained by the Dutch wind nuisance standard are compared to those obtained by a more simplified procedure for the transformation of wind statistics to the building site, as used in earlier studies. The more sophisticated transformation procedure in the Dutch standard was successfully validated based on full-scale measurements in earlier research. Comparison of the Dutch standard results in this study with those of the simplified procedure shows that the latter provides overestimations by up to 25% for the highest discomfort probabilities. This type of large discrepancies can significantly change the outcome of wind comfort studies.