Canyon effects in urban configurations: tropical context study

Author: Lin Yola

Published: 11 Feb 2020
Journal: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, Volume 436, International Conference on Sustainable Design, Engineering, Management and Sciences (ICSDEMS 2019) 16–17 October 2019, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/436/1/012028

ABSTRACT

The increase of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) is a continuing phenomenon in dense cities. Technically, the building of heat gain generated from modified solar radiation in tropical urban spaces requires the scientific solution. The investigation on the behavior of urban microclimate, especially solar radiation in the urban canyon, was comprehensively investigated by early urban energy studies. However, the solar radiation trapping effect as the behavior of solar radiation in different type of urban configurations is still unclear. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the impact of urban configurations on the solar radiation performance in Kuala Lumpur tropical context. By using ENVI-met V3.1, this study simulates four urban configurations situated in two scenarios of canyon directions; East-West and South-North. The results recorded that the short wave and long wave solar radiation varies in a different type of urban configurations. It concludes that besides the Sky View Factor (SVF) and Height to Width (H/W) aspect ratio, the direction of urban canyon towards the exposure of the source of solar radiation significantly influences the solar radiation trapping effect. This finding will be a significant reference to strategies for the urban configuration to improve the microclimate in the urban spaces and mitigating climate change.

Keywords: Canyon Effects, Urban Configurations, Urban Heat Island, Urban Microclimate, Solar Radiation

Original Link: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/436/1/012028/meta