An urban thermal tool chain to simulate summer thermal comfort in passive urban buildings

• Published in: Building and environment 2022-05, Vol.215, p.108987, Article 108987
• Main Authors: Toesca, Adrien, David, Damien, Kuster, André, Lussault, Michel, Johannes, Kévyn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Air temperature; Boundary layers; Building thermal simulation; Buildings; Chains; Civil Engineering; Eco-conception; Engineering Sciences; Heat; Heat waves; Heatwave; In situ measurement; In situ measurements; Indoor environments; Model accuracy; Occupant behavior; Parameter identification; Shutters; Simulation; Simulation tool chain; Summer; Thermal comfort; Thermal simulation; Urban areas; Urban environment; Urban environments; Urban heat island; Urban heat islands; Weather
• ISSN: 0360-1323; 1873-684X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.108987

This paper presents a simulation tool chain for the prediction of thermal comfort in passive urban buildings during summer and under heat wave conditions. The tool chain encompasses EnergyPlus building energy model and the Urban Weather Generator and UrbaWind tools to consider the impacts of the urban environment on building loads. This chain of tools is computationally efficient and does not require notable expertise for the simulations. To assess its accuracy, this simulation results are compared to in situ measurements. This paper describes the measurement setup, analyzes the measurement results and reveals a satisfactory model accuracy through a comparison to the measurement data. The average nighttime urban heat island between July and September 2020 reached 2.31 °C in the city of Lyon. Not considering the urban heat island effect (employing rural weather files) in urban thermal simulations could induce a 1 °C bias in indoor air temperature predictions. This could also result in overpredicting the cooling potential of natural ventilation during summer. Key parameters of the simulation accuracy are identified. These are the action schedule of occupants in regard to opening devices (shutters, windows and doors) and the urban boundary layer height at night. •An Urban Thermal Tool Chain simulates the thermal behaviour of urban buildings.•The developed UTTC is devoted to passive buildings under summer conditions.•The UTTC includes EnergyPlus, Urban Weather Generator, and UrbaWind.•In-situ measurements were carried out on four types of buildings in Lyon.•Remarkable correspondence between simulations and measurements.