applications / heat / study 07
Draft for review
Outdoor thermal comfort
A square that bakes in July stays empty. We simulate the wind, sun and surface temperatures of a public space so the design can be judged on how it will actually feel.
- Element
- Heat
- Indices
- UTCI and PET
- Method
- CFD with solar radiation modelling
- Output
- Comfort maps by season and hour
The question
Will people want to stand here?
Thermal comfort outdoors is not air temperature. It is the combination of what the air is doing, how much radiation reaches a body from the sun and from the surfaces around it, and how much of that a person can shed. Two spots a few metres apart, one in the shade of a canopy and one against a sunlit wall, can differ by more than ten degrees in perceived terms.
That difference decides whether a terrace fills up, whether a route is walked, and whether a public space performs on the days when it matters most.
What we simulate
Wind, radiation and surfaces together
We solve the wind field over the site, then couple it with a solar radiation model that accounts for the position of the sun through the day and the year, shading from surrounding buildings and vegetation, and the way each material stores and re-emits heat.
The result is expressed in established comfort indices, the Universal Thermal Climate Index and the Physiological Equivalent Temperature, so the outcome can be read against published thresholds rather than interpreted from raw numbers.
What it changes
Design decisions, not just a verdict
The study is most useful early, when the layout can still move. It shows what a row of trees is worth, whether a canopy is in the right place, and how much a lighter paving material changes the picture at street level.
Because it maps the whole space rather than a few points, it also identifies the spots that will be used and the ones that will be avoided, which is often the difference between a design that works on the drawing and one that works in use.
Other studies
Heat