Abstract
Problem statement: Whilst at the design stage the various aspects of design impact must be taken into account, the incident solar radiation, insolation, is a key to many environmental aspects of street canyons. In this regard, the configuration of an urban street has a decisive role in magnitude of the solar radiation which it receives on its flank. This study aimed the influence of geometry and orientation of urban street canyon on flank insolation in an arid climate city. Approach: This study approached numerical simulation and employs a computational programme to carry out a 2D simulation within Urban Canopy Layer; (UCL). To enhance the resolution, the simulation condition is based upon accumulative hourly insolation on the daily-basis sun movement for the both solstices as the two extreme days of the year. Results: Geometry has an inverse influence on flank insolation and streets approaching deeper canyons would have lower insolation in both summer and winter. The orientation influence on insolation is to be seen with the season. In winter, orientation effect is analogous to geometry impact and higher inclined canyons would have lower insolation on their flank. In summer, increase in orientation causes variation in flank insolation of which the variation trend is not in the same direction. Conclusion: This study showed that both geometry and orientation influence the solar radiation incident on the street flank and therefore ought to be considered in the design stage where the designers can take full advantages. The increase in geometry or orientation towards deeper canyon and higher inclination respectively, yield insolation reduction excluding for the orientation influence in summer that causes insolation variation.
Highlights
The Impact of the sun on the climate for subtropical cities is prominent
Insolation, comprising direct and diffuse radiation on a given surface is of great deal as a lot of further decisions in the design process for different purposes highly depend upon it
Shading on a flank might be caused by trees as well as opposite flank
Summary
The Impact of the sun on the climate for subtropical cities is prominent. From the urban street canyon point of view, its impact on pedestrian thermal comfort (Oka, 2006; Parlmutter et al, 2007), surface energy budget and radiative exchange (Arnfield and Grimmond, 1998; Harman et al, 2004), solar access (Arnfield, 1990; Morello and Ratti, 2009) and pollution dispersion (Huang et al, 2005; Zhanga et al, 2007) is discussed. The modeling of solar radiation is discussed (Robinson and Stone, 2004) where dealing with urban street canyons requires consideration of air pollution, cloudiness of sky and shading effect (Kreider et al, 2002). In arid cities, shading of street and subsequently insolation intensity rely on aspect ratio (H/W or geometry) and azimuth (orientation) of a canyon without trees
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