Impact of Building Design and Operating Strategies on Urban Heat Island Effects—Part I: Model Development and Validation

Abstract

Abstract This paper introduces a simplified simulation environment to model the reciprocal thermal interactions between urban air and buildings. Specifically, the simulation environment accounts for several factors that are responsible for the formation of the urban heat island and its effects. Dynamic modeling of urban components including both urban canopy and boundary layers as well as ground medium and building energy systems is integrated within the developed simulation environment. A validation analysis of the developed simulation environment is carried out using field data obtained during the summer for the City of Toulouse, France. The developed simulation environment can be applied to evaluate various mitigation options to reduce the urban heat island effects and improve energy efficiency levels of urban built environments. The main limitations of the developed simulation environment as well as recommendations to enhance its performance have been outlined throughout the paper.