Sky View Factor (SVF) assessment in a real-time system for thermal comfort conditions monitoring in the Moscow region

Abstract

Comfort indices are used to assess the harm to human health caused by unfavorable thermal conditions. All calculated indices are based on both meteorological and physiological parameters. An algorithm is used which is based on a model RayMan for calculating two of the most common thermal indexes: PET and UTCI, which are based on a balance of human energy or models of human heat fluxes. The purpose of this research is to develop a real-time system of calculating comfort indices based on data of a web service for monitoring weather conditions in Moscow and the Moscow region. The technology is based on the use of specialized libraries of the Python language (pyautogui, pywinauto) to interact with the keys of a keyboard and a mouse, because it is necessary to write paths to files and make keystrokes in the model. The result is presented in a visually understandable form with a spatial distribution of the thermal stress in the form of points with signed index values at the locations of weather stations throughout Moscow and the surrounding areas. A test of sensitivity of the RayMan model to changes in a sky view factor (SVF) is also carried out. It is shown that the PET index is more sensitive to changes in SVF than UTCI. An assessment is made of the summer frequency of occurrence of cases with unfavorable levels of the thermal stress (taking into account SVF) at stations of the Roshydromet network in Moscow and the Moscow region. It is shown that during the controversial summer of 2019, the points where strong and extreme heat stresses most often occurred are located within the territories of Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports.