Real and theoretical evaluation of human thermal comfort in urban areas = Πραγματική και θεωρητική εκτίμηση της θερμικής αίσθησης σε αστικά

Περίληψη

The objective of this study was to evaluate the thermal comfort of humans in urban areas. As far as urban design parameters are concerned, height-to-width ratio and orientation of buildings may strongly affect thermal conditions in the cities. Physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) is a thermal index derived from the human energy balance and is preferred to other thermal indices as its unit (oC) makes results more comprehensible to urban and regional planners and can be shown graphically or as climate maps. Meteorological parameters are required such as air temperature, air humidity, wind speed solar radiation and sunshine duration. The present study focuses on thermal comfort issues of humans in urban areas and provides estimates of PET based on long term data through RayMan model. RayMan among other models has the ability to create hypothetical buildings with different heights, widths and orientation according to the under examination case). In the present study two buildings were added and their characteristics were altered in order to examine the variability of PET and sunshine in an urban area like University campus of UOA in 2013.