The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010)

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA May 23-27, 2010

Spatial and temporal computation of thermal comfort inputs in
outdoor spaces
David Rose
a
, Hanqing Wu
b
, Meiring Beyers
c


Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin, Guelph, Ontario, Canada,
a
David.Rose@rwdi.com
b
Hanqing.Wu@rwdi.com,
c
Meiring.Beyers@rwdi.com
ABSTRACT: Predicting thermal comfort requires knowledge of multiple environmental and per-
sonal factors. When modeling the response of the general public however, assumptions must be
made about the personal inputs, including activity level, clothing coverage, and physical
attributes. In doing so, most thermal comfort indices simplify to analytical models which depend
on the same four environmental factors: Dry bulb temperature, humidity, air speed, and mean ra-
diant temperature. For indoor environments, a single worst case analysis is sufficient in ensuring
ventilation systems are designed to provide acceptable comfort conditions at all times, however
exterior environments are subject to more extreme temperature and humidity fluctuations, mean-
ing acceptable conditions cannot be expected at all times. A more reasonable design goal for ex-
ternal environments is to increase the frequency of comfort, resulting in the need for annual time
dependent predictions of comfort. The method described here allows for rapid calculation of the
four primary environmental inputs such that many of the commonly utilized thermal indices can
be calculated for large temporal and spatial sets.
1 INTRODUCTION
A persons comfort level in an outdoor environment can depend on multiple factors, including
the noise levels, air quality, mechanical wind forces and thermal balance with the surroundings.
The assessment of wind comfort in outdoor environments is a well established process that helps
architects and urban planners avoid designs which may lead to adverse conditions due to elevated
mechanical impacts from wind (Wu, 1994), while noise and air quality studies are also common-
place in consulting engineering firms. The most difficult comfort quality to assess is ones thermal
comfort, due to the wide range of factors which can affect how a person feels, including activity
levels, clothing color and coverage, environmental impacts, and personal acclimatization. A brief
review of thermal comfort metrics is included in this section, as well as some existing computa-
tional methods, and a simplified method for producing annual predictions of thermal comfort.
1.1 Existing thermal comfort metrics
The most commonly used thermal comfort model was developed by Fanger (1982). It uses fun-
damental heat transfer properties to calculate an equilibrium thermal balance between a human
and his or her surroundings based on the environmental conditions, type of clothing coverage,
and the activity of the individual. This heat balance equation has been used in combination with
empirical results to generate a thermal sensation index known as the Predicted Mean Vote
(PMV). This method has been adopted by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and
Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE, 2009) as a standard method for predicting thermal com-
fort in indoor environments. PMV measurements are grouped into 7 categories of comfort rang-
ing from cold (PMV = -3) to hot (PMV = 3).
The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA May 23-27, 2010

Predicting thermal comfort in the outdoor environment must consider more extreme tempera-
tures, humidity, and solar exposure. Gagge et. al. (1986) adjusted the PMV model to include the
effects of extreme humidity by including the ASHRAE standard effective temperature (SET*) in
the heat balance. This index, called the Standard Predicted Mean Vote (SPMV*) is used in the
work outlined here. Other outdoor comfort indices such as the physiological equivalent tempera-
ture (PET) and the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) also cater to outdoor comfort.
Thermal comfort indices are commonly calculated using four primary environmental factors:
Dry bulb temperature (T
db
), relative humidity (RH), air speed (V), and mean radiation tempera-
ture (MRT). Models also typically include personal inputs such as the clothing type and activity
level. Other factors which are more difficult to model can have an impact on ones thermal com-
fort, including one's posture, and their bodily orientation with respect to the sun. Because the cur-
rent work is intended to describe conditions for the general population, these personal inputs
must be fixed at mean levels. For example, occupants are assumed to be at an activity level
equivalent to standing, instead of more extreme high or low activity levels (running or sitting).
The four environmental inputs however will vary independent of the subject, and thus are the
universal parameters of interest for thermal comfort studies. Though the SPMV* model is the in-
dex of choice at present, the purpose of this work is to calculate the four standard environmental
inputs so that comfort can be predicted for any of the indices discussed above. The relative accu-
racy or applicability of each index is a debate which goes beyond the scope of this work.
1.2 Meteorological data as thermal comfort inputs
When predicting thermal comfort for indoor environments, a worst case analysis is typically suf-
ficient to help modify the design of the heating and air conditioning systems to maintain a com-
fortable environment under all conditions. However, when dealing with extreme variations seen
in the outdoor environment, it is unreasonable to expect that satisfactory thermal comfort levels
will be achieved for a full year. Instead, the design goal may be modified to maximize the total
number of hours for which conditions are tenable. For this reason, a thermal comfort analysis in
outdoor environments would benefit from annual statistics which describe the conditions at vari-
ous seasons and times of day, and provide a frequency of comfort for all hours of the year.
A well equipped meteorological station can be used to provide measurements of the four key
environmental factors which affect thermal comfort. Historical records of these measurements
can thus be used to produce predictions of thermal comfort. Annual meteorological statistics are
readily available, and are commonly employed when modeling buildings performance and energy
systems. One example of such information is provided in the Typical Meteorological Year
(TMY) data sets, which use several years of measurements to produce a single years worth of da-
ta at a given site. In this work, the second generation of such files (TMY2) developed by the Na-
tional Renewable Energy Laboratory's analytic studies division (Marion 1995) has been used.
Because TMYs are compiled based on average conditions of temperature and humidity, the sin-
gle years worth of data may not be a suitable representation of historical characteristics of wind
speed and direction. If available, a larger data set representing multiple years of meteorological
measurements would provide a more accurate measure of the frequency of comfort.
1.3 Impact of local obstructions
Data taken directly from meteorological measurements would represent the conditions seen by a
person standing in an open space, but would not include the impacts from the local surroundings.
The primary goal of this work is to include the impacts of the local surroundings while maintain-
ing a level of simplicity that allows for mass production of thermal comfort measurements.
The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA May 23-27, 2010

Previous models have been created which use multiphysical Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) to predict thermal comfort. The work by Bouyer et. al. (2007) calculates PET spatially us-
ing the coupled effect of solar radiation, wind flow around obstructions, convective heat transfer
from surfaces, and long wave radiation. Because of the highly coupled nature of these models the
results cannot be used to represent more than a single condition.
In order to facilitate a more repeatable computational method, a few simplifications are made,
the most important of which is the impact of the surroundings on the subjects mean radiant tem-
perature. The MRT is a weighted average of surface temperatures within view of the subject, and
is used to describe the potential for heat transfer through radiation. Each surface temperature de-
pends on the air temperature, convective heat exchange, thermal storage, surface properties, and
long wave radiation exchange with other surfaces. In order to simplify the calculation of MRT,
the surrounding surface temperatures are assumed to be equal to ambient temperature. Future ite-
rations of the present model will include more details regarding other radiant heat sources similar
to the methods presented by Scudi (2004) which include simplified parameters such as urban
canyon aspect ratio, and surface albedos. In this work, the MRT includes the impact of solar rad-
iation, which contributes a greater amount of radiative heat transfer to the surface of the subject
when compared with other surroundings. The solar impact can be predicted in much shorter time
as it only depends on solar intensity and shading. Section 2 of this work will outline how the dry
bulb temperature and solar radiation are used to produce a simplified prediction of MRT.
The impact of the local surroundings on the air speed is maintained through a limited set of
CFD simulations as described in section 3. In outdoor spaces, the primary factor which affects
local air flow is the wind speed/direction, and its interaction with local blockages. Thermal im-
pacts such as buoyancy are ignored to maintain a simple decoupled prediction of air speed.
It is also assumed that the ambient temperature and humidity are not significantly affected by
the local surroundings, and are thus the same as those provided in the meteorological data. In a
fully outdoor environment, temperature and humidity variations would require a massive input of
heat or water vapor to impact the external microclimate. Inputs to the MRT and air speed models
are taken from the same meteorological data to maintain consistency in input conditions.
1.4 Case study outline
The work presented here will examine thermal comfort predictions at 21 outdoor pedestrian
spaces surrounding a generic set of buildings as shown in figure 1. The layout includes common
design features such as courtyards, narrow avenues, and buildings of various heights.
The location selected for the case study is Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. A single
years worth of TMY2 data is used as the input for the model. Abu Dhabi presents a challenging
thermal comfort environment as it sees very high temperature and humidity throughout the year.
As such, the design goal for this masterplan includes an increase in wind exposure and a decrease
in solar exposure in order to maximize the frequency of acceptable conditions.










Figure 1. Case study building layout.
The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA May 23-27, 2010

2 PREDICTING MEAN RADIANT TEMPERATURE
2.1 Solar exposure
Solar exposure has a significant effect on a person's thermal comfort. To model the impact of the
sun, the magnitude of the solar radiation is included in the mean radiant temperature (MRT) cal-
culation. The first step in predicting the increase in MRT is to determine what percentage of the
solar radiation is able to reach the person in question. For this, we use the solar exposure models
provided in Ecotect, a building energy design software package by Autodesk.
By specifying the latitude, longitude and time zone of the study location, Ecotect produces a
sun-path diagram, which outlines the location of the sun at each hour of a full year. The sun's lo-
cation in the sky is defined by its azimuth, and altitude. By also including a 3D model of the sur-
rounding buildings, and by specifying a study location at ground level, Ecotect can produce a
sun-path diagram which plots the areas of the sky which are visible from the given point. Figure
2 shows a sample sunpath diagram which plots the suns locations in the sky, as well as the re-
gions of the sky which are blocked from view at study point 1 labeled in figure 1.


Figure 2. Sample sunpath diagram produced in Ecotect.

2.2 Solar Radiation
Solar radiation reaches the earth's surface in two forms: Direct radiation, which is defined as the
radiation emitted from the region of the sky occupied by the sun, and diffuse radiation, which
represents the portion of radiation which is dispersed by atmospheric constituents, and originates
from all other areas of the sky. Determining the portion of direct radiation which reaches a fixed
point is simply a matter of whether or not the sun is visible from the given location (i.e. is the lo-
cation in sun or in shade). As such, the percentage of direct radiation assigned to a given point is
found simply by cross-referencing the suns location at the given time with the regions of the sky
which are exposed according to the Ecotect sun path diagram. The resulting direct radiation will
either be 100%, or 0% of the measured value.
The spread of diffuse radiation depends on many factors, including the suns location, cloud
coverage and humidity. To maintain a level of simplicity, the isotropic sky model is used, which
simply distributes the diffuse radiation evenly throughout the hemispherical area of the sky. By
once again referencing the sun-path diagram shown in figure 2, one can calculate what percen-
tage of the total sky is visible from the study point. This provides a measure of the fraction of the
total available diffuse radiation which will reach the study point.
Exposed areas of sky
as viewed from study
point
Areas of sky blocked
from view by sur-
rounding buildings
Location of sun in sky
at various times of the
year
The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA May 23-27, 2010

2.3 Mean Radiant Temperature
A method by Gennusa et. al. (2004) has been modified here to predict the MRT on a human sub-
ject based on the solar radiation input. In its original form, the calculation of MRT on a person
exposed to solar radiation is found using equation 1:
4
,
1
4
1

S
b
I
p
f
b
S
j d
I
M
j
j S
F
d
i
T
N
i
i S
F MRT +

=

+
=

= (1)
The first term on the right hand side of equation (1) sums the product of the view factor from the
subject to each surface (F
Si
) and the surface temperature (T
i
) to the fourth power for all surfaces
in the vicinity of the subject. This term can be simplified by assuming that all surroundings are at
ambient temperature, which results in a view factor of 1, and allows us to use the dry bulb tem-
perature provided in meteorological data.
The contribution of the diffuse radiation and direct radiation in the second and third terms re-
spectively are calculated in a similar manner. In each case, the incoming diffuse and direct radia-
tion (I
d
and I
b
respectively) are divided by the Stephan Boltzmann constant () and multiplied by
the surface absorption coefficient over the surface emissivity (/), the latter of which depends on
the properties of both the source and receiver. In this work, published values for / between the
sun and human caucasian skin (Incropera and DeWitt, 2002) are used since knowledge of cloth-
ing color is not known. Because this model was created for indoor environments, it is formulated
to allow for more than one source of diffuse radiation (i.e. multiple windows), which are summed
with separate view factors and diffuse radiation values. In an external environment, we can as-
sume a single source (the sky), where the view factor is that which is predicted using Ecotect,
and the method in section 2.2. Likewise, the view factor for the direct radiation is either one or
zero based on the assumption of a singular reception point as shown in the previous section.
The intensity of direct and diffuse radiation depends on the orientation of the absorbing sur-
face. By approximating the shape of the human body with a cylinder, we can predict the average
intensity of solar radiation on the surface of the body. For direct radiation, the intensity on the
surface in W/m
2
is found using Lamberts cosine law (equation 2), where I
b,N
is the direct normal
radiation, defined as the radiation intensity on a surface directly facing the sun, and is the angle
of incidence to the surface. The zenith and altitude angles are thus used to find the direct radia-
tion I
b
, on the top and sides of the cylinder respectively:
) cos(
,

N b
I
b
I = (2)
For diffuse radiation, meteorological data typically provides intensity values for horizontal
surfaces. Stephenson (1965) and Threlkeld (1963) showed that the clear-sky diffuse irradiance on
a vertical surface can be expressed as a fraction Y of the horizontal diffuse irradiance according
to equation (3):
)
2
cos 313 . 0 cos 437 . 0 55 . 0 , 45 . 0 max( + + = Y (3)
where is the angle of incidence from the sun to the normal vector of the surface. The average
value for Y is calculated for the perimeter of a full cylinder for a given solar altitude. Once both
the direct and diffuse radiation are known on the top and sides of the cylinder, the total radiation
is area weighted over the full area of the cylinder to produce the second and third terms in equa-
tion (1). The final result is a measure of MRT for a given ambient temperature, solar altitude, di-
rect normal radiation, and diffuse horizontal radiation.
The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA May 23-27, 2010

3 PREDICTING AIR VELOCITY
3.1 Computational Fluid Dynamics
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a modeling tool that can be used to predict a velocity
field in an outdoor domain for a given wind condition. This method is employed here to predict
point velocity for each study point in the current work. The challenge in predicting wind for an
entire year is the large variation seen in both wind direction and wind speed. In most wind stu-
dies, prevailing winds are analyzed to provide insight into the most common wind events, how-
ever for this work, a full statistical measure of comfort is desired, and as such all wind events
should be approximated to some degree. In order to achieve this, CFD simulations from multiple
wind directions around the compass are conducted. At its highest resolution, the method outlined
here has included 36 simulations from wind directions at 10 increments, to ensure that all poten-
tial wind directions are represented by a simulation within 5 of the recorded hourly mean value.
Solutions have been generated using the Openfoam CFD code, and Reynolds Averaged Navi-
er Stokes turbulence modeling. The domain inlet conditions are defined using boundary layer
profiles as defined by Richard and Hoxey (1993), which assume a constant shear stress with
height. Velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulent dissipation profiles are defined based on
the atmospheric boundary layer friction velocity and the aerodynamic roughness length. For all
simulated wind directions, the geostropic velocity is set to a constant value calculated based on
the approximate average velocity measured at 10m, and scaled up to 600m based on ESDU (En-
gineering Science Data Unit) profiles corresponding to the roughness of the terrain surrounding
the measurement station.
Convergence is checked by probing velocities at all study locations and iterating until no sig-
nificant variation is seen. Velocity, pressure and turbulence factors see a minimum drop in resi-
duals of five orders of magnitude. Grid independence is not attainable due to the massive mesh
sizes required to represent developments and all of their surroundings. In most studies, the initial
mesh size is on the order of 5 millions cells. To achieve one level of refinement would require 40
million cells, which goes beyond the computational capacity available at RWDI.
CFD results generated for the full outdoor domain are expressed as a velocity ratio to that
measured at the meteorological station for each wind direction simulated. Using the same point
locations for the analysis performed in section 2, lookup tables are generated for each point by in-
terpolating the steady state CFD results. These lookup tables provide a fast method of producing
airspeed predictions at the study points for each combination of wind direction and wind speed
provided in the meteorological data.
3.2 Wind tunnel measurements
Velocity ratios for each wind direction can also be predicted using a boundary layer wind tunnel
and a scale model of the development and its surroundings. All wind tunnel tests conducted at
RWDI follow the requirements described in the ASCE manual of practice no. 67 on wind tunnel
studies of buildings and other structures (ASCE 1999), where artificial roughness is added to the
upstream portion of the tunnel to produce scaled profiles of velocity and turbulence at the inlet to
the study area. Results are produced for multiple wind directions by rotating the physical model
with respect to the incoming air flow. A constant geostrophic velocity is used for each wind di-
rection. Irwin sensors (Irwin, 1981) are placed at the same study points as outlined in section 2 to
produce mean velocities near the ground. While gusts speeds are typically used to evaluate wind
comfort due to mechanical forces, only the mean values are required for thermal comfort predic-
tions (Soligo et. al., 1998). Lookup tables for velocity ratios are produced at each point similar to
the previous section. For this work, CFD results are preferred because of their ability to produce
site-wide contours of wind speed, rather than discrete point measurements.
The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA May 23-27, 2010

4 RESULTS
The method of calculating SPMV* from the four environmental inputs is an iterative process
which is outlined in the work by Gagge et. al. (1986). An automated process is used to produce
the four environmental inputs from the meteorological data and the methods outlined above, fol-
lowed by the iterative calculation of SPMV* for each hour of the year. The process is repeated
for multiple study points, giving both a time and space dependent solution to thermal comfort.
With the exception of the CFD simulations, the calculations are simplified to the point where all
SPMV* measurements for the 21 points for the full year can be produced in less than one hour.
Post processing focuses on the time and type of use of the study area. For example, the given
case study is assumed to be a college campus, which houses students from fall to spring. Based
on past experience by RWDI consultants, it was assumed that a reasonable percentage of people
in the Abu Dhabi area will find an SPMV* rating of 2.5 or less acceptable for outdoor environ-
ments. There are no existing code values specifying a thermal comfort threshold, so the SPMV*
rating of 2.5 is based on solely on personal experiences, and surveys taken with Abu Dhabi resi-
dents by RWDI. Table 1 lists a subset of the results predicting the frequency of acceptable ther-
mal conditions for the southeast points as labeled in figure 1 for the fall and spring seasons.

Table 1. Frequency of comfort (% of total hours)
Study Point Spring Fall
Morn. Aft. Morn. Aft.
1 96 % 93% 85% 80%
2 98% 77% 96% 56%
3 97% 87% 87% 67%
4 96% 79% 80% 48%
5 100% 95% 99% 70%

A spatial view of comfort in the outdoor space is created by binning results by frequency of
comfort at the various study points. Figure 3 shows a sample result produced for fall afternoons
in the southeast region of the study area. The results are primarily used to provide guidance on
what building design features and surroundings contribute to the frequency of acceptable outdoor
conditions, and where mitigation may be required. In the example provided here, the highest fre-
quency of comfort is predicted in the narrower passageways where shading occurs often, and
wind can readily flow through the space as seen in points 1 and 5. The unfavorable conditions
seen above are a result of significantly reduced shading, and stagnant air in spaces where wind
throughways are not available as seen in points 2 and 4. The moderate locations are typically cha-
racterized by a balance between the two factors, as in point 3 where shading is poor, but condi-
tions are moderated due to the open flow passage through the center of the courtyard.











Figure 3. Frequency of thermal comfort tolerability for all afternoon hours in fall months
Predicted Comfort Frequency
20% - 30%
30% - 40%
40% - 50%
50% - 60%
60% - 70%
70% - 80%
80% - 90%
90% - 100%
The Fifth International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA May 23-27, 2010

5 CONCLUSIONS
Multiphysical CFD models can be used to calculate the dry bulb temperature, air speed, humidi-
ty, and mean radiant temperature of an outdoor environment under a given set of conditions.
These four inputs provide the necessary information required to produce thermal comfort predic-
tions throughout an outdoor space. Such models serve as an effective method to evaluate condi-
tions at a fixed time, such as a worst case scenario. Because outdoor spaces can be subject to ex-
treme environmental fluctuations over the year, a small set of results may not show when or how
often a given space will meet comfort criteria. Repeating coupled CFD models to achieve predic-
tions for a full year would be impractical based on current computational capabilities.
The work described here provides methods and assumptions which simplify the interdepen-
dence of the environmental factors such that rapid predictions of thermal comfort can be pro-
duced while still maintaining a level of dependence on the local surroundings. The key simplifi-
cation is that of the mean radiant temperature, which is assumed to depend only on the dry bulb
temperature, solar radiation, and the location of the sun. This decoupling of the MRT from the air
velocities and surface radiation exchanges decreases the amount of information required from
CFD simulations to simple cold flow predictions of wind velocity ratios. With the exception of
the CFD simulations, which may take on the order of a few weeks, a full annual prediction of
thermal comfort for the 21 points presented here can be generated in less than one hour.
By providing annual statistical measures of temperature, humidity, air speed, and mean radiant
temperature, one of many thermal comfort indices can be used to create statistics which show the
frequency of comfort at various outdoor locations. This is of high value to masterplan designers
who can quickly produce preliminary estimates of which building design features may contribute
to increased frequency of thermal comfort.
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