Development of a new urban heat island modeling tool: Kent Vale case study

Abstract

Urban heat island is intensified by anthropogenic activities and heat in conjunction with the built-up urban area, which absorbs more solar radiation during daytime and releases more heat during nighttime than rural areas. Air cooling systems in Singapore, as one of the anthropogenic heat sources, reject heat into the vicinity and consequently affect urban microclimate. In this paper, a new urban heat island modeling tool is developed to simulate stack effect of split type air-conditioners on high rise buildings and solar radiation induced thermal environment. By coupling the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program with the solar radiation model and perform parallel computing of conjugate heat transfer, the tool ensures both accuracy and efficiency in simulating air temperature and air relative humidity. The annual cycle of sun pathway in Singapore is well simulated and by decreasing the absorptivity or increasing the reflectivity and thermal conductivity of the buildings, the thermal environment around buildings could be improved.