Thermal comfort modeling on urban streets

Abstract

“Walkability” is a vital constituent on Urban Streets and is a sustainable transportation mode for pedestrians in highly urbanized cities. Psychological comfort of pedestrians is predominantly defined by enhancing walkability on urban streets. Thermal comfort is one of the key attributes for pedestrian comfort and wellbeing. This study considers thermal comfort on urban streets in assessing, walkability by considering the Thermal Heat Indexes (THI) and investigating the Predicted Mean Volt (PMV) values. Empirical data were analyzed and discussed the behavior of measured Air Temperature and Thermal Heat Index (THI) values of selected urban streets. To explore the thermal comfort levels on streets, ENVI-met 4.1 computer simulation and analyzed data on Air temperature, Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) values were used. According to the empirical Data, the THI value is higher on Location 01-Main Street than other urban streets. As per the results of the ENVI-met computer simulation, the changing Building Height scenario indicates a significant effect on the thermal comfort as opposed to the tree lines along both sides of the street. Findings from this research express that increasing building height and increasing tree density by proposing a large expanse of vegetation along streets is significantly associated with the thermal comfort conditions on urban streets and enhance the level of walkability as an effective green transport mode.