Outdoor thermal comfort improvement with advanced solar awnings: Subjective and objective survey

Abstract

The aim of this work is to enhance microclimate and pedestrians’ thermal comfort under solar awnings. For this purpose, an optimized awning with aluminized polyester film, characterized by low thermal emissivity properties downward and high thermal emissivity upward, was tested and compared with a high thermal emissivity white textile awning, usually used for outdoor solar shadings. The two awning configurations were tested in summer 2021 through a combination of micrometeorological monitoring and an outdoor thermal comfort survey. An objective thermal comfort evaluation was carried out through micrometeorological data monitoring under both awnings, used to determine the modified Physiological Equivalent Temperature (mPET), through the application of the RayMan model. A subjective thermal perception, preference and thermal comfort evaluation under the two configurations were collected by the outdoor thermal comfort survey. The comparison between the subjective thermal comfort sensation and the objective thermal comfort index evaluation allowed to determine the effectiveness of the proposed awning solution for the enhancement of outdoor thermal comfort. The optimized awning allows to reduce the mPET values on an average of 1.6 °C and a maximum of 5.1 °C.