Abstract
Buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort influences environment quality and human behavior in urban neighborhoods. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) has been broadly applied to the study of buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort in urban areas. However, complex environmental conditions in climate-sensitive urban areas can make UTCI assessment complicated and ineffective. This paper introduces digital techniques into buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort analysis for the improvement of the urban habitant environment. A digital simulation system is generated to facilitate the analysis procedure for buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort assessment in urban neighborhoods. The analysis addresses the research question: “Can digital simulation techniques provide a modeling system to assess buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort continuously and effectively?” Methods include a case study of neighborhoods in Beijing, qualitative and quantitative analysis based on digital processes, and parametric modeling. The results indicate that digital simulation techniques and tools have the capability to support the analysis of buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort by providing three-dimensional models, algorithm-based analysis, and visual simulation. The findings include a critique of digital simulation as applied to architecture study and insights on potentially improving buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort through human–computer interactions.
Highlights
Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment [1]
Presented in Rhinoceros 3D, the simulation indicates that outdoor thermal comfort varies across a one-year period
The results indicate that digital manners can provide a continuous and effective approach to analyze buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort through embedding Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) calculation into the digital modeling platform of Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper 3D
Summary
Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment [1]. Buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort analysis in urban space contributes significantly to human health [2]. Developments in physics have resulted in a variety of approaches to the assessment of buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort. Data calculations of UTCI are extended and presented as a year-round outdoor thermal comfort simulation with threedimensional models. The research question can be described as: Can digital simulation techniques provide a modeling system to assess buildings’ out3doofo1r0 thermal comfort continuously and effectively?. It is of benefit to control variables when assessing buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort between different building cluster forms. In order to understand buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort condition, data collection in the neighborhoods encompassed three types: average temperature, humidity, and wind speed. According to the UTCI assessment scale and the collected data, the conditions of buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort of the neighborhoods could be calculated
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