Effects of pavement texture and colour on Urban Heat Islands: An experimental study in tropical climate

Abstract

Typical pavement construction materials, such as concrete and cement can significantly increase the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in tropical cities. The optimized pavement designs can, however, moderate the temporal intensities of the UHI effect by altering the radiation and heating absorption capacities. This study empirically analyses and attempts to inversely quantify the effect of pavement texture and colour on the characteristic thermal performance of concrete pavers in a tropical climate. Concrete pavers of three common textures (Smooth, Rough, Jagged) and three common colours (Red, Grey, Black) were studied under controlled ambient conditions, considering 27 experimental pavement setups (1 ft. × 1 ft. and three replicates). According to the results, in comparison to Black; Red and Grey coloured pavers showed up to 4.2 °C, and 4.5 °C lower surface temperatures respectively during the peak hours, within each texture. When considering the texture of Grey pavers, the Smooth texture showed up to 2.6 °C lower temperature retention. However, among all pavement types considered, Red Jagged showed the lowest surface temperature record of 42.9 °C which is 0.6 °C cooler than Grey Smooth. Holistically, it can be concluded that, considering both paver colour and texture of concrete, the Red coloured Jagged paver can minimize the pavement contribution to the UHI effect.