Experimental case study on the effect of the urban morphology on urban microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort

Abstract

The present study aims at testing the influence of the urban morphology on the external weather conditions and the urban microclimate by treating quantitative aspects of the outdoor thermal comfort. This is based on a site investigation aims at studying the correlation between the geometry of the street, its orientation and the evolution of the physical variables: air temperature (Ta), Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT), Relative Humidity (RH), Wind speed (Ws).The measures were the subject of a campaign carried out in the urban fabric of the ksar of the red village in the wilaya of Biskra in Algeria. The objective is to define the most efficient urban geometry in term of summer thermal comfort by studying the real impacts of the urban form on the solar control and microclimatic conditions. The evaluation of the thermal comfort in these external spaces is carried out by analyzing physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) values calculated by Rayman Pro 2.1 software based on the measured microclimatic parameters.

Keywords

• urban morphology
• urban microclimate
• outdoor thermal comfort
• warm and arid climate
• mean radiant temperature