A Simplified Simulation Model for Predicting Radiative Transfer in Long Street Canyons under High Solar Radiation Conditions

Carlos Rubio-Bellido, Jesús A. Pulido-Arcas and Benito Sánchez-Montañés
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Carlos Rubio-Bellido: Department of Building Science, Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Design, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Avenida Collao 1202, Concepción 4051381, Chile
Jesús A. Pulido-Arcas: School of Environmental Design, University of Shiga Prefecture, 2500 Hassaka-cho, Hikone, Shiga 522-0057, Japan
Benito Sánchez-Montañés: Higher Technical School of Architecture, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville 41012, Spain

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Modeling solar radiation in street canyons is crucial to understanding the solar availability of building façades. This article describes the implementation of a simulation routine, developed in the Matlab ® computer language, which is aimed at predicting solar access for building façades located in dense urban conglomerates comprising deep long street canyons, under high solar radiation conditions, typical in southern countries of Europe. Methodology is primarily based on the configuration factor theory, also aided by computer simulation, which enables to assess the interplay between the surfaces that compose the so-called street canyon. The results of the theoretical model have been cross-checked and verified by on-site measurements in two real case studies, two streets in Cadiz and Seville. The simplified simulation reproduces the shape of the curve for on-site measured values and weighted errors for the whole model do not surpass 10%, with a maximum of 9.32% and a mean values of 6.31%. As a result, a simplified predictive model that takes into account direct, diffuse and reflected solar radiation from the surfaces that enclose the canyon, has been devised. The authors consider that this research provides further improvement, as well as a handy alternative approach, to usual methods used for the calculation of available solar radiation in urban canyons, such as the Sky View Factor or the ray tracing.

Keywords: solar radiation; computer simulation; configuration factors; street canyon; solar availability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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