Sensing transient outdoor comfort: A georeferenced method to monitor and map microclimate

Abstract Studies on microclimate of cities have already proved that pedestrian thermal comfort is function of built environment and it is fundamental to understand this phenomena both with numerical techniques and field measurements to achieve comfortable, healthier and more livable urban spaces. There has been wide variety of methods to approach this question that how people react or behave in transient outdoor condition since most of the thermal comfort studies perceive pedestrian thermal comfort as “static” phenomena. The application of thermal comfort monitoring in transient conditions is limited due to complexity of the task and instrumental setup which leads to lack of understanding about how pedestrians compensate heat loads. This study contributes in two directions, first to setup a georeferenced environmental monitoring equipment as a methodology and second to use the toolkit to have better understanding of dynamic thermal comfort and the thresholds for tolerance to thermal discomfort.

[1]  E. C. Poulton,et al.  The effects of wind on people; New criteria based on wind tunnel experiments , 1976 .

[2]  M. Alcoforado,et al.  Perception of temperature and wind by users of public outdoor spaces: relationships with weather parameters and personal characteristics , 2011, International journal of biometeorology.

[3]  J. Carmeliet,et al.  Coupled CFD, radiation and porous media model for evaluating the micro-climate in an urban environment , 2014 .

[4]  E. Mayer.  Objective criteria for thermal comfort , 1993 .

[5]  P. Höppe.  Different aspects of assessing indoor and outdoor thermal comfort , 2002 .

[6]  W. H. Melbourne,et al.  Criteria for environmental wind conditions , 1978 .

[7]  Gail Brager,et al.  Thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings: revisions to ASHRAE Standard 55 , 2002 .

[8]  Hui Zhang,et al.  Partial- and whole-body thermal sensation and comfort— Part I: Uniform environmental conditions , 2006 .

[9]  Muhsin Kilic,et al.  Investigation of indoor thermal comfort under transient conditions , 2005 .

[10]  P. Höppe,et al.  The physiological equivalent temperature – a universal index for the biometeorological assessment of the thermal environment , 1999, International journal of biometeorology.

[11]  Vivian Loftness,et al.  Investigation of human body skin temperatures as a bio-signal to indicate overall thermal sensations , 2012 .

[12]  R. Dear,et al.  An outdoor thermal comfort index (OUT_SET^*) : Part I-The model and its assumptions , 1999 .

[13]  Yi Li,et al.  Automatic Sky View Factor Estimation from Street View Photographs - A Big Data Approach , 2017, Remote. Sens..

[14]  A. D. Penwarden.  Acceptable wind speeds in towns , 1973 .

[15]  Kohji Yamashita,et al.  On relationships between heat island and sky view factor in the cities of Tama River basin, Japan , 1986 .

[16]  Lee Chapman,et al.  Sky‐view factor approximation using GPS receivers , 2002 .

[17]  A. A. Romanovsky,et al.  Skin temperature: its role in thermoregulation , 2014, Acta physiologica.

[18]  Thomas D. Brock,et al.  Calculating solar radiation for ecological studies , 1981 .

[19]  J. L. M. Hensen,et al.  Literature review on thermal comfort in transient conditions , 1990 .

[20]  S. Shen,et al.  Influence of sky view factor on outdoor thermal environment and physiological equivalent temperature , 2015, International Journal of Biometeorology.

[21]  S. Karjalainen.  Gender differences in thermal comfort and use of thermostats in everyday thermal environments , 2007 .

[22]  C. Ren,et al.  Numerical modelling of mean radiant temperature in high-density sub-tropical urban environment , 2016 .

[23]  C. Jessen,et al.  The metabolic response to skin temperature , 1988, Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology.

[24]  R. de Dear.  Revisiting an old hypothesis of human thermal perception: alliesthesia , 2011 .

[25]  Holger Koss,et al.  On differences and similarities of applied wind comfort criteria , 2006 .

[26]  Lee Chapman,et al.  Real-Time Sky-View Factor Calculation and Approximation , 2004 .

[27]  Makoto Nakayoshi,et al.  Outdoor thermal physiology along human pathways: a study using a wearable measurement system , 2015, International Journal of Biometeorology.

[28]  I. D. Watson,et al.  Graphical estimation of sky view-factors in urban environments , 1987 .

[29]  Richard de Dear,et al.  Effect of thermal adaptation on seasonal outdoor thermal comfort , 2011 .

[30]  K. Steemers,et al.  Thermal comfort and psychological adaptation as a guide for designing urban spaces , 2003 .

[31]  Wuyan Li,et al.  A fast approach for large-scale Sky View Factor estimation using street view images , 2018 .

[32]  Fazia Ali-Toudert,et al.  Effects of asymmetry, galleries, overhanging façades and vegetation on thermal comfort in urban street canyons , 2007 .

[33]  T. Oke.  The energetic basis of the urban heat island , 1982 .

[34]  R. Dear,et al.  Thermal adaptation in the built environment: a literature review , 1998 .

[35]  P. Höppe.  Heat balance modelling , 1993, Experientia.

[36]  Marie K. Svensson,et al.  Sky view factor analysis – implications for urban air temperature differences , 2004 .

[37]  C. S. B. Grimmond,et al.  Rapid methods to estimate sky‐view factors applied to urban areas , 2001 .

[38]  Thomas Auer,et al.  Modeling and simulating urban outdoor comfort: Coupling ENVI-Met and TRNSYS by grasshopper , 2017 .

[39]  F. Lindberg,et al.  Different methods for estimating the mean radiant temperature in an outdoor urban setting , 2007 .

[40]  E. Johansson,et al.  Urban shading—a design option for the tropics? A study in Colombo, Sri Lanka , 2007 .

[41]  H. Mayer,et al.  Numerical study on the effects of aspect ratio and orientation of an urban street canyon on outdoor thermal comfort in hot and dry climate , 2006 .

[42]  E. Shaviv,et al.  Integrated modeling of pedestrian energy exchange and thermal comfort in urban street canyons , 2007 .

[43]  Richard de Dear,et al.  Adaptation and Thermal Environment , 2009 .

[44]  Eduardo L. Krüger,et al.  Impact of urban geometry on outdoor thermal comfort and air quality from field measurements in Curit , 2011 .

[45]  Tetsumi Horikoshi,et al.  Responses of human skin temperature and thermal sensation to step change of air temperature , 1993 .

[46]  C. Ren,et al.  Sky view factor analysis of street canyons and its implications for daytime intra‐urban air temperature differentials in high‐rise, high‐density urban areas of Hong Kong: a GIS‐based simulation approach , 2012 .

[47]  M. Nikolopoulou,et al.  Thermal comfort in outdoor urban spaces: Analysis across different European countries , 2006 .

[48]  Andreas Matzarakis,et al.  Outdoor thermal comfort characteristics in the hot and humid region from a gender perspective , 2014, International Journal of Biometeorology.