Abstract
ABSTRACT Experimental studies were conducted aiming to characterize the thermal conditions in urban areas of the Brazilian semiarid for identifying the level of human thermal comfort in urban areas of the municipalities of Mossoró-RN, Serra Talhada-PE, Petrolina-PE and Juazeiro-BA. The results showed that the constituent elements of urban areas contribute to human thermal discomfort index (DIT). Both the wet and dry seasons showed up an uncomfortable condition in Mossoró on May 15th and on 23rd, 2008 (rural area) and on May 25rd, 2008 (urban area). By applying Thom's equation for obtaining the DIT, it was observed that the urban areas reported thermal comfort conditions always inferior to those observed in the rural areas. The results indicate conditions of partial comfort for the all areas surveyed. However, the incidence of human thermal discomfort related to the minimum, average and maximum air temperatures are, probably associated to the formation of urban heat islands. In addition, the afforestation is an effective mechanism of mitigating the adverse effects of these structures with better quality of life to the population. Therefore, it can be stated that the Brazilian semiarid region has specific urban climate, which is influenced by the design characteristics of the urban structure and buildings.
Highlights
Blazejczyk et al (2012) affirms that in the last century there has been much active research on how to define human thermal comfort which resulted in various models
Mean and extreme values of air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed were analyzed for wet (May 12th to 26th, 2008) and dry (November 15th to December 5th, 2008) periods beyond comparisons between rural and urban areas of each city studied
By analyzing the data of the wet period (Table 2), it appears that the air temperature (Ta) in urban areas was on average higher than that observed in rural areas in all districts and the urban area of Mossoró presented increased overall average (29.0 °C)
Summary
Blazejczyk et al (2012) affirms that in the last century there has been much active research on how to define human thermal comfort which resulted in various models. A large number of indices have been proposed, which are (or were) in use throughout the world Some studies, such as Goldreich (1995), Ichinose et al (1999) and Silva et al (2010) showed that urban climate has been widely studied in many parts of the world, and the heat island phenomenon has been discussed, along with its impacts on the urban thermal environment. When the thermal environmental conditions exceed certain ranges, the human body thermoregulatory mechanisms are activated in order to maintain constant internal body temperature. Temperatures beyond the limits of comfort may cause thermal fatigue, and malaise, reduction of work performance, total loss of ability to perform intellectual activities, health problems and even death (Lamberts, 2014)
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