Thermal Environment Research Articles

Numerical study on the coupling effect of river attributes and riverside building forms on the urban microclimate: A case study in Nanjing, China

Urban rivers play an important role in mitigating urban heat islands. However, a coupling analysis of river attributes and waterfront architectural forms is lacking. Most existing studies have used a single urban scale and research method and lack comprehensive application. Satellite remote sensing data were used in this study to examine the cooling law of rivers at the macroscale. At the microscale, a microclimate simulation was used to study the influences of river attributes, climatic conditions, and architectural spatial morphological characteristics on the cooling effect of rivers. The river cooling effect is positively correlated with river width, where a temperature drop caused by a 100 m river width can reach 0.75 °C. The cooling effect of rivers is easily influenced by the surrounding built-up areas; this effect is more significant for rivers greater than 40 m wide. In the study of the index of architectural space form, their influence on the thermal environment of the riverside is ranked from high to low: building density, building riverside enclosure degree, building height. The findings provide guidance for the planning and design of riverside buildings from the perspective of thermal environment optimization to construct sustainable cities.

Spatial coupling relationship between architectural landscape characteristics and urban heat island in different urban functional zones

The process of urbanization exacerbates the urban heat island phenomenon. In order to reasonably identify urban functional zones, and reveal the influence of buildings on land surface temperature (LST). Guiyang, a multi-mountainous city in China, was taken as the research area, Open Street Map (OSM) and land use type data were used to identify urban functional zones. Subsequently, the correlation between urban building morphology metrics and LST was analyzed using Pearson correlation and boosted regression tree (BRT) model. The results showed that: (1) There were significant differences in LST among different urban functional zones. (2) The relative contribution value of building density (BD) to land surface temperature was high, and it significantly exacerbated the urban heat island effect across all urban functional zones, with the maximum impact on LST reaching 2.5 °C in Utility zone. (3) Mean building height (MBH), Southerly wind speed (S_Wind speed) and Landscape shape index of building (LSI_Building) had the effect of alleviating thermal environment, and the mitigation degree of land surface temperature was the highest in Residential zone and Ecological zone, reaching 0.6 °C, 0.8 °C and 2.0 °C, respectively. This study enhances our understanding of the relationship between urban functions and LST, providing valuable insights for mitigating the urban thermal environment and promoting sustainable development.

Numerical investigation of the influence of thermal protective fabric deformation on heat transfer from thermal radiant heat to human skin

Operators in thermal hazardous environments are more susceptible to burns during physical motion due to the potential deformation of thermal protective clothing. To study the influence of fabric deformation on heat transfer, a model of a three-layer thermal protective fabric system with stretching and compression deformation throughout the heat exposure and cooling phases was established and coupled with a skin heat transfer model to predict skin burns. Changes in the thermophysical properties of the fabric with deformation and skin tissue based on body location were considered. To verify the accuracy of the model, a modified radiant protective performance tester capable of simulating fabric deformation was applied. The relative error between the prediction results of the model and the experimental results does not exceed 4.68 %. The results demonstrate that stretching or compression deformation of the fabric increases heat transfer to the skin, and compression deformation generates a greater thermal hazard by accelerating the discharge of stored energy. Fabric deformation accelerates skin burns in all body parts, especially in the arms and legs. The findings of this research can provide a theoretical basis for understanding the frequent occurrence of skin burns associated with body motion and provide guidance for the design of thermal protective clothing to enhance the partial thermal protective performance.

On‐demand microwave growth of porosity within a granular composite energetic material: Void formation via a dielectric loss phase change binder additive for propellant burning rate control

AbstractThis study demonstrates, for the first time ever, the ability to grow, in an on‐command fashion, porosity within a granular composite energetic material to effect a change in energy output rate. Specifically, the study investigates the change in burning rates of ammonium perchlorate composite propellants as a result of porosity created in situ via microwave field‐driven volatilization of the low boiling point binder additive, ethylene glycol. Theoretical mass densities were measured before and after microwave irradiation finding that the maximum observed %TMD change for tested propellants is 6 %. Propellants were burned at 1.72 MPa to 6.89 MPa pressures, finding that for all propellants, microwave irradiation produced a change in ballistic characteristics. Most propellant formulations demonstrate acceptable burning rate parameters for use within rocket motors; some exhibited a large change in their pressure exponent as well as slope breaks attributed to the onset of convective burning, while microwave irradiation produced no change in burning rate or density in reference propellants without the additive. Microwave heating simulation results are presented to gain insight into the thermal environment of the propellant during microwave irradiation. These results provide valuable insight into propellant formulations that can have their burning rates (and thus the thrust profile for motor grains) altered after casting via microwave irradiation.

Assessment of biometeorological conditions in Eastern Mediterranean City Adana, Turkey from past to the future.

Human bioclimatic comfort (HBC) is an important subject of climatology in the field of physical geography. Human bioclimatic comfort (HBC) is the feeling of satisfied and comfortable within the ambient atmospheric thermal environment. Earth climate system has been exposed to changes from the beginning, but since 19th century human - induced factors have contributed to these changes. HBC is the combined effect of atmospheric conditions and affected by all the changes in them. Turkey is among the countries in Mediterranean region, expected to develop higher vulnerabilities to the (bio) climate hazards. Therefore, a Mediterranean city in the south of the country, Adana, was chosen as the study area. HBC assessment was made for the past (1961 - 1990), present (1991 - 2022), near (2030 - 2060) and distant future (2070 - 2100) using hourly - data from the official meteorology station between 1961 and 2022, daily data of the climate model scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathway - RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) index, the Rayman model and Geographic Information Systems in the spatial distribution of HBC conditions. The analysis showed that the prevalence of "cold" and "cool" stresses has decreased while that of "hot" and "very hot" stresses has increased from the past to the present in Adana. It is predicted that present conditions will continue in the near and distant future, all comfort ranges will increase to the following warm range and the ideal period for HBC conditions will be the winter season. In order to reduce the adverse HBC conditions in cities due to climate change by creating climate resilient, sustainable and healthy cities, urban design and planning principles should be followed from a geographical point of view.

Climate Adaptation Analysis and Comfort Optimization Strategies for Traditional Residential Buildings in Hot-Summer, Cold-Winter Regions: A Case Study in Xuzhou, China

Climate change and the energy crisis have catalyzed the architectural industry’s consideration of green and energy-efficient buildings. With the continuous deepening and expansion of research, people have gradually realized the reference value of the passive design strategies embedded in traditional residential buildings for contemporary architectural design and renovation. This paper takes the traditional residential buildings on Hubu Mountain, Xuzhou, as its research object, and explores their thermal and wind environment characteristics through field investigations and software simulation analysis. It is found that Xuzhou’s traditional houses have good temperature regulation, with fluctuations of about 5 °C indoors and 10 °C outdoors in summer and about 7 °C indoors and 12 °C outdoors in winter. Their form, material and structure are well adapted to the local climate. There is also a need to optimize the buildings’ moisture resistance and ventilation for better comfort. Subsequently, this study analyzes the climate adaptability features in traditional building construction techniques and then extracts climate adaptability methods, proposing targeted optimization and renovation suggestions, aiming to contribute to the sustainable development of architecture and ecology.

Investigation of a Building with Male and Female Residents to Achieve Equality of Thermal Sensation Associated with Rational Use of Exergy and Energy

The intensive use of air conditioning systems, primarily refrigerating, to promote thermal comfort in countries such as Brazil (a hot climate country) is changing the electrical energy consumption patterns and peak demand. Even with the increased number of appliances, we must learn to consume less energy to achieve similar outcomes with higher energy efficiency. Consequently, exergy analysis is used to evaluate the quality of these energy conversion systems. Four computational human thermal models were used to assess thermal comfort conditions: one man wearing lighter clothing, one man wearing traditional office clothing, and two women in the two types of clothing. We chose these four models since the body composition and basal metabolism rates for males and females differ. In addition, the insulation of clothes influences the temperature of the thermal environment, leading to a significantly lower percentage of people being unsatisfied, from 12.8% to values close to 5%. The outputs of these occupants are used as inputs for a computational model of the room to calculate its associated thermal loads and evaluate different temperature setpoints and their effects on thermal comfort and energy consumption. Results indicate that environmental temperatures above 24 °C and below 26 °C may lead to thermal comfort conditions, depending on the occupants’ clothing. Clothing would represent a thermal resistance of 0.7 CLO for men and women (when in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle) and 0.8 CLO for women in the follicular phase when the environment is at 25 °C. Therefore, there is a significant reduction in the compression power of the central cooling system by about 2.2% compared to 24 °C and around 8% compared to ambient temperatures around 21 °C.

Quantifying the effect of surrounding spatial heterogeneity on land surface temperature based on local climate zones using mutual information

Local climate zone (LCZ), a landscape classification scheme that segments urban region into 17 distinct zones, has become the standard for analyzing urban thermal environments since 2012. The characteristic features of each LCZ decide the standard regime for their Land Surface Temperature (LST). In heterogeneous cities, the variation in LST is observed for similar but spatially dispersed LCZs and has not yet been analysed by the researchers. The surrounding spatial heterogeneity could be partially responsible for such variation. Hence, we have presented a framework to analyze the LST variation of similar but spatially dispersed LCZs by considering the surrounding LCZ pattern11LCZ pattern represents the group of LCZs surrounding any considered LCZ.details in the study area of Nagpur (India). The framework uses machine learning techniques like random forest (RF), Xgboost, deep learning to confirm that the LST variation is due to surrounding LCZ pattern. Later it indentifies the factors responsible for LST variation in each LCZ type using our proposed mutual information based Adjacent LCZ preference Estimator (ALPE). Deep learning model captures 90–92 % of the neighbourhood heterogeneity responsible for LST variation as compared to RF (0.83- 0.79) and Xgboost (0.86–0.81). The reduction in bias (by 1.05 °C -1.39 °C) is observed while estimating LST incorporating surrounding LCZ pattern. This confirms that the external heterogeneity affects the LST of the corresponding LCZ. Further, the result analysis of ALPE suggests that characteristics of open LCZ types (when they are present in surrounding) highly influence the LST of compact and open LCZs.

Research on the Indoor Thermal Environment of Several Traditional Chinese Residential Buildings

To study the indoor thermal environment characteristics and influencing factors of traditional Chinese residential buildings, the existing research studies on the indoor thermal environment of traditional residential buildings were collected and organized, and the relevant measured data was extracted using GetDate software. After data analysis, the construction characteristics of brick and wood structures, wood structures, and raw soil structures were summarized. The indoor and outdoor temperature changes of the residential buildings in summer and winter were revealed. Finally, the indoor thermal environment characteristics and influencing factors of three types of traditional residential buildings were summarized. The research results can provide a reference for the construction and low-carbon renovation of traditional residential buildings.

On the performance of carbon fiber structural batteries with temperature

Carbon fiber structural batteries, which combine structural and functional properties, have good energy storage capacity while bearing loads have received attention from scholars at home and abroad in recent years as a new type of energy storage device. However, in the process of use, temperature changes will lead to the occurrence of thermal stresses, which may cause structural failure under multiple cycles. In this paper, the thermal-stress coupled model of structural batteries was established first using the temperature and thermal stress models of structural batteries, considering the heat exchange with the external environment of structural batteries. Then based on the coupled model, the thermal stress in the structural battery was simulated and analyzed in COMSOL considering different charge and discharge rates and ambient temperatures of the structural batteries. The results show that: (1) The higher the charging and discharging rates, the higher the temperature of the structural battery, resulting in greater thermal stress. (2) The higher the ambient temperature of the structural battery, the longer its discharge time and the lower the voltage at which discharge terminates, which is beneficial for the electrochemical performance of the battery. But the higher the ambient temperature, the greater the temperature change inside the structural battery, which is not conducive to the mechanical performance of the structural battery. This study can provide reference for the safety analysis of structural batteries in thermal environments.

Summer cooling island effects of blue-green spaces in severe cold regions: A case study of harbin, China

Blue-green spaces exhibit a cooling island effect in urban thermal environments. This study, through field measurements combined with thermal comfort indices and CFD simulations, explored the summer cooling island effect in micro-scale blue-green spaces of severe cold regions, summarizing the spatiotemporal characteristics of the effect. Measurements were conducted in Harbin at three water bodies of varying sizes and shapes, revealing a notable cooling island effect at a distance of 6–8 m from the water. The highest Mean Cooling Island Intensity (MCII) of 3.18 °C was recorded at 10 a.m. in a circular water body with compound vegetation. Furthermore, the combination of water bodies and vegetation proved more effective in reducing temperatures than single factors alone, with the peak coupling effect of 6.37 °C at 6 m from the water at 11 a.m. Thermal environment surveys determined Harbin's Neutral Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) temperature range to be 13.3–25.06 °C. Additionally, modeling and optimization comparisons in ENVI-met confirmed that adding a small number of deciduous trees to grassland areas and altering the type of waterside platform can optimize the thermal environment. This research provides a solid foundation for the optimized design of blue-green spaces in severe cold regions.

ECR Spotlight – Mads Kuhlmann Andersen

ECR Spotlight is a series of interviews with early-career authors from a selection of papers published in Journal of Experimental Biology and aims to promote not only the diversity of early-career researchers (ECRs) working in experimental biology but also the huge variety of animals and physiological systems that are essential for the ‘comparative’ approach. Mads Kuhlmann Andersen is an author on ‘ The freeze-avoiding mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) survives prolonged exposure to stressful cold by mitigating ionoregulatory collapse’, published in JEB. Mads Kuhlmann conducted the research described in this article while a postdoc in Heath MacMillan's lab at Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada. He is now a postdoc in the lab of Johannes Overgaard at Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Denmark, investigating comparative physiology and integrative biology with a main interest in how animals respond, adjust and adapt to different thermal environments.

Microbial communities are thermally more sensitive in warm-climate lizards compared with their cold-climate counterparts.

Environmental temperature affects the composition, structure, and function of the gut microbial communities in host animals. To elucidate the role of gut microbiota in thermal adaptation, we designed a 2 species × 3 temperatures experiment, whereby we acclimated adult males of two agamid lizard species (warm-climate Leiolepis reevesii and cold-climate Phrynocephalus przewalskii) to 20, 28, and 36°C for 2 weeks and then collected their fecal and small-intestinal samples to analyze and compare the microbiota using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing technology. The fecal microbiota displayed more pronounced interspecific differences in microbial community than the small-intestinal microbiota in the two species occurring in thermally different regions. The response of fecal and small-intestinal microbiota to temperature increase or decrease differed between the two species, with more bacterial taxa affected by acclimation temperature in L. reevesii than in P. przewalskii. Both species, the warm-climate species in particular, could cope with temperature change by adjusting the relative abundance of functional categories associated with metabolism and environmental information processing. Functional genes associated with carbohydrate metabolism were enhanced in P. przewalskii, suggesting the contribution of the fecal microbiota to cold-climate adaptation in P. przewalskii. Taken together, our results validate the two hypotheses tested, of which one suggests that the gut microbiota should help lizards adapt to thermal environments in which they live, and the other suggests that microbial communities should be thermally more sensitive in warm-climate lizards than in cold-climate lizards.

Influence of a Built-in Finned Trombe Wall on the Indoor Thermal Environment in Cold Regions

This study focuses on energy conservation, reducing the amount of energy consumed to heat a room, and decreasing the intensity of carbon emissions. The research object is a room heated by a floor with a built-in finned Trombe wall (TW) located in Lanzhou, Gansu Province. ANSYS software was employed to conduct a simulation study on parameters such as fin height, transverse spacing, longitudinal spacing, arrangement mode, and fin apex angle. The simulation results were used to determine the fin parameters’ thermal impact on the TW’s thermal performance, including with respect to a room’s thermal environment (TE). The results show that the heat transfer performance of a TW with respect to the thermal environment of a room is the greatest when the height of the heat-absorbing surface is 20 mm, the transverse spacing is 0.20 m, the longitudinal spacing is 0.533 m, and in-line 90° top-angle fins, that is, isosceles right triangle fins, are used. The average Nu number of the fin-type TW is 154.75. Compared with the average Nu number of the finless TW, which is 141.43, the average Nu number increases by 13.32 due to the addition of fins. The optimized fin-type TW has 7.77% higher convective heat supply efficiency than the finless TW. Although the PMV-PPD results of the two TW-type rooms are not very different, the comfort period of the fin-type TW room is longer. At the same time, the LPD3 of the non-finned TW and the finned TW rooms is less than 10%, the wind speed at the head and ankle is less than 0.12 m/s, the air gust sensation is not strong, and the thermal comfort is good, indicating that the addition of fins is beneficial to the improvement of indoor thermal comfort. Compared to standard rooms, finless TW rooms and fin-type TW rooms have energy-saving rates of 36.38% and 44.63%, respectively. Thus, fin-type TW rooms’ energy saving rate is 8.25% higher, resulting in effective savings in heating energy consumption. Therefore, the indoor TE and auxiliary heating conditions are improved, and the integration of solar building technology can be facilitated, which offers significant reference value for energy transformation.

MesoHOPS: Size-invariant scaling calculations of multi-excitation open quantum systems.

The photoexcitation dynamics of molecular materials on the 10-100nm length scale depend on complex interactions between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom, rendering exact calculations difficult or intractable. The adaptive Hierarchy of Pure States (adHOPS) is a formally exact method that leverages the locality imposed by interactions between thermal environments and electronic excitations to achieve size-invariant scaling calculations for single-excitation processes in systems described by a Frenkel-Holstein Hamiltonian. Here, we extend adHOPS to account for arbitrary couplings between thermal environments and vertical excitation energies, enabling formally exact, size-invariant calculations that involve multiple excitations or states with shared thermal environments. In addition, we introduce a low-temperature correction and an effective integration of the noise to reduce the computational expense of including ultrafast vibrational relaxation in Hierarchy of Pure States (HOPS) simulations. We present these advances in the latest version of the open-source MesoHOPS library and use MesoHOPS to characterize charge separation at a one-dimensional organic heterojunction when both the electron and hole are mobile.

Thermal ecology shapes disease outcomes of entomopathogenic fungi infecting warm-adapted insects

The thermal environment is a critical determinant of outcomes in host-pathogen interactions, yet the complexities of this relationship remain underexplored in many ecological systems. We examined the Thermal Mismatch Hypothesis (TMH) by measuring phenotypic variation in individual thermal performance profiles using a model system of two species of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) that differ in their ecological niche, Metarhizium brunneum and M. flavoviride, and a warm-adapted model host, the mealworm Tenebrio molitor. We conducted experiments across ecologically relevant temperatures to determine the thermal performance curves for growth and virulence, measured as % survival, identify critical thresholds for these measures, and elucidate interactive host-pathogen effects. Both EPF species and the host exhibited a shared growth optima at 28 °C, while the host’s growth response was moderated in sublethal pathogen infections that depended on fungus identity and temperature. However, variances in virulence patterns were different between pathogens. The fungus M. brunneum exhibited a broader optimal temperature range (23–28 °C) for virulence than M. flavoviride, which displayed a multiphasic virulence-temperature relationship with distinct peaks at 18 and 28 °C. Contrary to predictions of the TMH, both EPF displayed peak virulence at the host's optimal temperature (28 °C). The thermal profile for M. brunneum aligned more closely with that of T. molitor than that for M. flavoviride. Moreover, the individual thermal profile of M. flavoviride closely paralleled its virulence thermal profile, whereas the virulence thermal profile of M. brunneum did not track with its individual thermal performance. This suggests an indirect, midrange (23 °C) effect, where M. brunneum virulence exceeded growth. These findings suggest that the evolutionary histories and ecological adaptations of these EPF species have produced distinct thermal niches during the host interaction. This study contributes to our understanding of thermal ecology in host-pathogen interactions, underpinning the ecological and evolutionary factors that shape infection outcomes in entomopathogenic fungi. The study has ecological implications for insect population dynamics in the face of a changing climate, as well as practically for the use of these organisms in biological control.

Investigation on a new semiconductor cooling garment for reducing heat stress of outdoor workers performing moderate activities in a hot and humid environment

The incidence of heat waves increases frequently over the last decades in China and the worldwide, which will be more frequent, persistent, and intense with global warming and rapid urbanization. Outdoor workers, as the most influenced groups, die every year due to the severe heat illnesses associated with the thermal environments. Though various personal cooling garments (PCGs) have been developed to reduce the heat stress of human body working in extremely thermal environments or in indoors, less research studies were performed for developing PCGs for outdoor workers. Besides, there still lacks study for developing PCGs with good portability, large, prolonged and steady cooling effect. Therefore, in this study, a newly developed semiconductor cooling clothing was developed based on semiconductor units (SCG), and its actual cooling performance was evaluated by having ten males performing a moderate activity in a hot and humid condition (i.e., 30 ± 0.5 °C, RH = 80 ± 5 %, partial water vapor pressure = 3.5 kPa). The total experimental duration was 60 min, consisting of 60-min walking at 5.0 km/h. The key findings showed that the SCG could significantly reduce the mean skin temperature, torso skin temperature as well as local skin temperatures of human body under moderate exercise intensities (p < 0.05). Perceptual sensations in the whole-, upper-, and lower- body were remarkably improved during exercise (p < 0.05). In addition, the cooling performance of SCG was still significant approaching the end of the trials. Besides, no body movement restriction was discovered for subjects in SCG while performing typical postures. It was thus concluded that the SCG is effective in alleviating body heat strain while exercising in a hot and humid environment. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge in improving the health and well-being of outdoor workers while working in hot and humid environments.

Effects of thermal and acoustic environments on human comfort in urban and suburban campuses in the cold region of China.

In this study, we investigated the effects of thermal-acoustic environments on human comfort in a cold region by focusing on Xi'an in China as a representative city. Four typical open spaces were identified within two universities, with one located in an urban area and the other in a suburban area. Surveys were conducted using questionnaires and environmental parameters were measured to assess thermal-acoustic perception. The physiological equivalent temperature (PET) and noise sound pressure levels were employed to measure the thermal-acoustic environments in the four open spaces. The results showed that the neutral PET was 19.1°C in Xi'an from March to May, and the neutral temperature range was 14.9-23.4°C. The preferred temperature was 20.0°C. Acoustic sensation votes were lower in suburban areas than urban areas. Respondents in urban areas exhibited significantly higher sensitivity to the thermal and acoustic environments compared with those in suburban areas. Sensitivity to the thermal environment decreased as the environmental noise levels decreased. The temperature perceived as most suitable increased as the sensitivity to the thermal environment decreased. Acoustic comfort evaluations were generally higher in colder and warmer environments. Warmer environments heightened the sensitivity to the acoustic environment and this effect gradually decreased as the sound pressure levels increased. Thus, based on empirical analyses, we compared the effects of outdoor thermal-acoustic parameters on comfort to provide experimental data support for further outdoor thermal comfort research.

A hybrid learning approach to model the diversity of window-opening behavior

The diverse window-opening behaviors of individuals can result in significant differences in indoor thermal environments, air quality, and energy utilization. However, the majority of existing studies focus on constructing an average window operation model, thus overlooking the diversity of behaviors. Current methods for addressing behavioral diversity face challenges with integration into building performance simulation software and are highly dependent on data scale. To address these limitations, this study proposes a novel approach that combines unsupervised learning (K-Means) and supervised learning (Light Gradient Boosting Machine, LightGBM) for modeling the diverse window-opening behaviors. Furthermore, the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) was employed to interpret the predictive model. This study yielded four key findings: 1) There were 12 different window-opening behavior patterns. Interestingly, 65 % of the residents’ window-opening behaviors were not influenced by environmental factors but were instead a matter of personal habit. 2) Using random sampling to divide the dataset may pose a risk of data leakage. The time series cross-validation method is more suitable for evaluating the performance of the window state prediction model. 3) Under the time series sampling strategy, the LightGBM model incorporating behavioral diversity improved the prediction accuracy by 1.3%–10.4 % compared to the standalone LightGBM model. Notably, when the daily average window opening time was used as a clustering feature in the LightGBM model (Cluster(T)-LightGBM), the accuracy reached 87.1 %. 4) The SHAP feature analysis highlighted high-intensity window-opening categories, outdoor temperature, and indoor CO2 concentration as the most pivotal predictors.

Experimental and computational thermoelectric generator for waste heat recovery for aeronautic application

This study is a comprehensive exploration of a polymer nanocomposite-based Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) developed within the European project InComEss, specifically designed for aeronautical applications. The focus lies on evaluating the TEG's performance under thermal conditions representative of various aircraft flight stages. The TEG module, consisting of four sections with 17 p-n strips each, is constructed from aerospace-grade polycarbonate, exhibiting dimensions of 50 * 1 * 0.3 mm. In the laboratory phase, the TEG's performance is systematically assessed through a series of experiments. Temperature gradients, ranging from −15 °C to 55 °C, emulate conditions experienced during ascending and descending flight stages. The results indicate promising outcomes, showcasing the potential viability of polymer-based TEGs for aeronautical applications. Specifically, temperature gradients of 40–70 °C, representative of atmospheric conditions and wing leading edge skin conditions, are applied across four test trials. The model validation demonstrates creditable agreement between computational outcomes and experimental data. Insights gained from COMSOL Multiphysics simulations includes temperature distribution, electric potential, and flow dynamics. Simulations conducted under varied temperature ranges provide valuable insights into the TEG's performance variability. Key findings include temperature distribution profiles, electric potential outputs under open and closed-circuit conditions, and a detailed flow analysis within a controlled thermal environment. The validated computational model not only enhances understanding of the TEG's behaviour, but also establishes a foundation for optimizing design parameters to enhance thermoelectric efficiency. The error analysis underscores the model's reliability, exhibiting an average error of 5.68 % between computational and experimental results, reinforcing its suitability for scientific investigations of this nature.