Investigating Ladybug as A Tool for Measuring Outdoor Thermal Comfort in Urban Neighborhoods | ||
| JES. Journal of Engineering Sciences | ||
| Article 11, Volume 52, Issue 1, January and February 2024, Pages 33-57 PDF (6.09 M) | ||
| Document Type: Research Paper | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jesaun.2023.234735.1256 | ||
| Author | ||
| Aya Mahmoud El-Bahrawy* | ||
| Architecture Department, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The increasing global temperature has increased awareness of enhancing Outdoor Thermal Comfort (OTC). OTC has become a primary indicator for the effectiveness of urban environments, which directly affects inhabitants' health, comfort, and quality of life. Consequently, many thermal comfort indices were developed to quantify outdoor thermal comfort; among them was the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), which is one of the broadly used thermal indexes in evaluating OTC. As another axis of this awareness, several computer-aided design (CAD) software have worked on developing their techniques to increase the accuracy of their outdoor simulations and climate measurements. The paper concerns exploring the potential of the Ladybug as a tool for measuring UTCI through an algorithmic script designed with the Ladybug (ver. 1.6.0) in the Grasshopper interface within Rhinoceros 3D software. The script was applied to two urban neighbourhoods in different climate zones of Egypt, Cairo (an inland city and the capital of Egypt) and New Damietta (a coastal city on the Mediterranean Sea), to investigate its capabilities in simulating and measuring the UTCI of different climate zones in the extreme hot week of the year as an examination period. Results showed that the maximum UTCI value in the coastal neighbourhood decreased from 32.93°C to 31.64°C, while its minimum value decreased from 28.79°C to 27.28 °C compared to the inland neighbourhood. The maximum and minimum UTCI values, hourly data, and the percentages of UTCI heat stress categories for six test locations in each neighborhood were also calculated and compared. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Outdoor Thermal Comfort (OTC); Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI); Urban Environments; Ladybug Tool | ||
| References | ||
|
[1] A. Muscio, “The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment Issues”, Climate Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 1, No.12, P. 1, 2018, doi:10.3390/cli6010012.
[2] T. Kamel, , “A new comprehensive workflow for modelling outdoor thermal comfort in Egypt”, Solar Energy Journal, Vol. 225, P. 162-172, Sept. 2021, doi:10.1016/j.solener.2021.07.029 .
[3] D. Lai, W. Liu, k. Liu, and Q. Chen, “A review of mitigating strategies to improve the thermal environment and thermal comfort in urban outdoor spaces”, Science of The Total Environment Journal, Vol. 661, P. 2, Apr. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.062.
[4] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report”, P. 4, 7, 2023, www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_FullVolume.pdf (12/5/2023).
[5] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “AR5 Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis - chapter 12: Long-term Climate Change: Projections, Commitments and Irreversibility”, P. 1031, 2013, www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WG1AR5_Chapter12_FINAL.pdf (20/8/2023).
[6] E. Gatto, R. Buccolieri, and others, “Impact of Urban Vegetation on Outdoor Thermal Comfort: Comparison between a Mediterranean City (Lecce, Italy) and a Northern European City (Lahti, Finland)”, Forests Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 2, P. 2, 2020, doi:10.3390/f11020228.
[7] R. Aghamolaei, M. Azizi, B. Aminzadeh and J. Donnell, “A comprehensive review of outdoor thermal comfort in urban areas: Effective parameters and approaches”, Energy & Environment Journal, P. 2, 5- 8, 16-19, Aug. 2022, doi:10.1177/0958305X221116176.
[8] S. Younsi and F. Kharrat, “Outdoor thermal comfort: Impact of the geometry of an urban street canyon in a Mediterranean subtropical climate – Case study Tunis, Tunisia”, UPADSD Conference, P. 2-11, Oct. 2015.
[9] H. Zhang, F. Guo, and others, “Spatial differences in thermal comfort in summer in coastal areas: A study on Dalian, China”, Front. Public Health Journal, Vol. 10, P. 1-15, Oct. 2022, doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.1024757.
[10] A. Matzarakis, S. Muthers, and F. Rutz, “Application and comparison of UTCI and PET in temperate climate conditions”, Finisterra Journal, Vol. 48, No. 98, P. 21-24, 29, 30, Dec. 2014, doi:10.18055/Finis6453.
[11] L. Milica and D. Dijana, “Thermal comfort in Belgrade, Serbia: UTCI- based seasonal and annual analysis for the period 1991-2020”, Archives for Technical Sciences Journal, Issue.28, P. 78, 79, 2023, doi:10.59456/afts.2023.1528.077L.
[12] K. Błażejczyk, G. Jendritzky, and others, “An introduction to the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI)”, Geographia Polonica Journal, Vol. 86, Issue 1, P. 5- 9, 2013, doi:10.7163/GPol.2013.1.
[13] C. Mackey, T. Galanos, and others, “Wind, Sun, Surface Temperature, and Heat Island: Critical Variables for High-Resolution Outdoor Thermal Comfort”, IBPSA Conference, P. 985, Aug. 2017.
[14] P. Bröde, E. Krüger, and F. Rossi, “Assessment of urban outdoor thermal comfort by the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI)”, XIV International conference on environmental ergonomics, P. 338 – 340, 2011.
[15] Y. Zhang, and C. Liu, “Digital Simulation for Buildings’ Outdoor Thermal Comfort in Urban Neighborhoods”, Buildings Journal, Vol.11, Issue 11, No. 541, P. 1-5, 2021, doi:10.3390/buildings11110541.
[16] P. Brode, K. Blazejczyk, and others, “The Universal Thermal Climate Index UTCI Compared to Ergonomics Standards for Assessing the Thermal Environment”, Industrial Health Journal, P. 16, 17, Feb. 2013, doi:10.2486/indhealth.2012-0098.
[17] NOAA Climate.gov, R. Lindsey and L. Dahlman, Aug. 2020, “ Climate Change: Ocean Heat Content”, www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-ocean-heat-content (24/8/2023).
[18] NASA Aquarius Mission, “Coastal Versus Inland Temperatures”,
www.aquarius.oceansciences.org/activities/vtop_coastal_v_inland_temps.pdf (24/8/2023).
[19] S. Dubey, J. Kim, and others, “Variability of Extreme Events in Coastal and Inland Areas of South Korea during 1961–2020”, Sustainability Journal, Vol. 15, P.3, 2023, doi:10.3390/su151612537.
[20] J. Hartigan, S. MacNamara and L. Leslie, “Comparing precipitation and temperature trends between inland and coastal locations”, The ANZIAM Journal, Vol.60, P. C109, 2019, doi:10.21914/anziamj.v60i0.13967
[21] M. Kishta, S. Robaa, M. Abdel Wahab and Z. Al Abadla, “Spatial distribution of outdoor thermal human comfort in the UAE”, World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, Vol. 13, Issue 2, P. 43, 46, 2022, doi: 10.30574/wjarr.2022.13.2.0104.
[22] M. Kuchcik, “Mortality and thermal environment (UTCI) in Poland—long-term, multi-city study”, International Journal of Biometeorology, Vol. 65, P. 1529- 1533, 2021, doi:10.1007/s00484-020-01995-w.
[23] A. Aksamija and D. Brown, “Integration of Parametric Design Methods and Building Performance Simulations for High-Performance Buildings: Methods and Tools”, Perkins+Will Research Journal, Vol.10.01, P. 28- 36, 2018.
[24] Y. Ibrahim, T. Kershaw, and P. Shepherd, “Improvement of the Ladybug-tools microclimate workflow: A verification study”, Building Simulation and Optimization Conference, P. 1- 7, Sept. 2020.
[25] A. Maksoud, E. Mushtaha, and others, “Design of Islamic Parametric Elevation for Interior, Enclosed Corridors to Optimize Daylighting and Solar Radiation Exposure in a Desert Climate: A Case Study of the University of Sharjah, UAE”, Buildings Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 2, No. 161, P. 3, 6, 7, 2022, doi:10.3390/buildings12020161.
[26] Ladybug Tools, “Honeybee”, www.ladybug.tools/honeybee.html (24/8/2023).
[27] Ladybug Tools, “Butterfly”, www.ladybug.tools/butterfly.html (24/8/2023).
[28] Ladybug Tools, “Dragonfly”, www.ladybug.tools/dragonfly.html (24/8/2023).
[29] Ladybug Tools, “Ladybug”, www.ladybug.tools/ladybug.html (18/5/2023).
[30] Food4Rhino Apps for Rhino and Grasshopper, “Ladybug Tools”, www.food4rhino.com/en/app/ladybug-tools (3/2/2023).
[31] Ladybug Tools, www.ladybug.tools/epwmap/ (6/6/2023).
[32] E. Arens, T. Hoyt, X. Zhou, and L. Huang, “Modeling the comfort effects of short-wave solar radiation indoors”, Building and Environment Journal, Vol. 88, P. 4, 5, Jun. 2015, doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.09.004.
[33] H. Li, “Pavement Materials for Heat Island Mitigation - Design and Management Strategies”, Butterworth-Heinemann, P. 281-285, 2016, doi:10.1016/C2014-0-04185-8.
[34] M. Karimi and M. Moghbel, “Surface temperature pattern of asphalt, soil and grass in different weather condition”, Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Science Journal (JBES), Vol. 3, No. 9, P. 85-86, 2013.
[35] S. Aletba, N. Hassan, and others, “Thermal performance of cooling strategies for asphalt pavement: A state-of-the-art review”, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition), Vol. 8, Issue 3, P.358- 361, Jun. 2021, doi:10.1016/j.jtte.2021.02.001.
[36] M. Chiodetti, A. Lindsay, and others, “PV bifacial yield simulation with a variable albedo model”, EU PVSEC 2016 Conference, P. 2, 2016.
[37] P. Schober, C. Boer, and L. Schwarte, “Correlation Coefficients: Appropriate Use and Interpretation”, Anesthesia & Analgesia Journal, Vol. 126, Issue 5, P.1763, May 2018, doi:10.1213/ANE.0000000000002864. | ||
|
Statistics Article View: 607 PDF Download: 1,242 |
||
