Abstract
It is recognized that ambient air temperatures (Ta) inside urban cores are higher than that in their rural surroundings, forming what is known as the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. During the summer in hot and dry regions, the UHI intensity is significantly influenced by the extreme direct solar radiation, heatwaves, and blockage of the natural airflow in the urban canyons by the high-rise buildings which leads to outdoor thermal discomfort during the entire day. The present study investigates the thermal performance of three different urban configurations based on the Urban Taskforce Australia in the Sydney Metropolitan Area. For a better understanding of different variables’ effect on the UHI in the urban context, greeneries, street pavements material and buildings transparent to opaque ratio are considered while the building material remains the same for all cases. The evaluation of the ambient air temperature (Ta), inside the urban canyon, was conducted by utilizing the three-dimensional numerical software Envi-met 4.0. The variable Ta, was measured in a large scale model which made more accurate comparisons between different types. The investigation of this study has provided a better understanding of the role of urban form configurations in forming the UHI that affects the microclimate in subtropical climate condition, which has therefore helped to generate guidelines of urban design and planning practices for better thermal performance in cities. In particular, the study has contributed to the validation of the impacts of urban configuration on the temperature variations in the built environment
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design
KEYWORDS
Heat island, Building Configuration,Ambient Air Temperature, Envi-met, Sydney
