Higher temperatures can be found in urban areas with respect to rural areas. This phenomenon is identified as Urban Heat Island. This phenomenon is influenced by many factors that depend on the characteristics of the built-up areas. Three main factors are urban form and geometry and the properties of surfaces. A wide research is focusing on how improving the properties of surfaces can decrease this phenomenon. Cool materials are proposed as one of the main countermeasures to achieve this goal. Retro-reflective (RR) materials have been proposed as innovative cool materials. RR are characterized by optical properties that reflect most of the incident solar energy backward towards the same incident direction. In this paper the effect of such materials have been investigated as applied on the vertical surfaces of buildings grouped into urban districts with different shapes and orientations. Three urban schemes have been investigated: a “block shape” scheme, a “West-East canyon” scheme and a “North-South canyon” scheme. The trend of the daily albedo has been monitored and the effectiveness of RR materials has been demonstrated. Recommendations for further improvement have also been suggested.
Experimental analysis of the effect of geometry and façades’ materials on urban district’s albedo
MORINI, ELENA;PRESCIUTTI, ANDREA;CASTELLANI, BEATRICE;ANDERINI, ELISABETTA;FILIPPONI, MIRKO;NICOLINI, ANDREA;ROSSI, Federico
2016
Abstract
Higher temperatures can be found in urban areas with respect to rural areas. This phenomenon is identified as Urban Heat Island. This phenomenon is influenced by many factors that depend on the characteristics of the built-up areas. Three main factors are urban form and geometry and the properties of surfaces. A wide research is focusing on how improving the properties of surfaces can decrease this phenomenon. Cool materials are proposed as one of the main countermeasures to achieve this goal. Retro-reflective (RR) materials have been proposed as innovative cool materials. RR are characterized by optical properties that reflect most of the incident solar energy backward towards the same incident direction. In this paper the effect of such materials have been investigated as applied on the vertical surfaces of buildings grouped into urban districts with different shapes and orientations. Three urban schemes have been investigated: a “block shape” scheme, a “West-East canyon” scheme and a “North-South canyon” scheme. The trend of the daily albedo has been monitored and the effectiveness of RR materials has been demonstrated. Recommendations for further improvement have also been suggested.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
