An Experimental and Numerical Approach to Multifunctional Urban Surfaces through Blue Roofs

Carlos Rey-Mahía, Felipe Pedro Álvarez-Rabanal, Luis Angel Sañudo-Fontaneda, Mario Hidalgo-Tostado and Antonio Menéndez Suárez-Inclán
Additional contact information
Carlos Rey-Mahía: GICONSIME Research Group, Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, INDUROT Research Institute, University of Oviedo, 33600 Mieres, Spain
Felipe Pedro Álvarez-Rabanal: GICONSIME Research Group, Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, INDUROT Research Institute, University of Oviedo, 33600 Mieres, Spain
Luis Angel Sañudo-Fontaneda: GICONSIME Research Group, Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, INDUROT Research Institute, University of Oviedo, 33600 Mieres, Spain
Mario Hidalgo-Tostado: GICONSIME Research Group, Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, INDUROT Research Institute, University of Oviedo, 33600 Mieres, Spain
Antonio Menéndez Suárez-Inclán: GICONSIME Research Group, Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, INDUROT Research Institute, University of Oviedo, 33600 Mieres, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Uncontrolled urban growth causes a number of problems associated with land use, stormwater management and energy generation. Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are positioned as an alternative to traditional constructive solutions, contributing towards the generation of multifunctional urban spaces for efficient stormwater management and energy consumption reduction. Nevertheless, this combined goal calls for a deeper understanding of the heat transfer processes that govern the temperature performance in SUDS in order to be further validated as infrastructure to house renewable energy elements. This study intends to determine the thermal properties of two types of blue roofs under extreme conditions of performance (wet and dry), depicting the operation features of their layers and comparing their performances based on the materials used. With this aim, a hybrid experimental methodology, combining laboratory and numerical modelling, was designed using standardized equipment (ISO 8990:1994 and ASTM C1363-05), improving previous methods proposed in the study of the thermal properties of SUDS. The section with expanded clay improved the hydraulic capacity by 4.8%. The section without expanded clay increased its thermal transmittance value by 64.9% under wet conditions. It was also found that the presence of water increased the equivalent thermal conductivity in both sections by 60%.

Keywords: blue roof; energy-water nexus; hot-box test; nature-based solutions (NBS); low impact development (LID); stormwater constructed measures (SCM); green infrastructure (GI); water sensitive urban design (WSUD) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1815/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1815/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1815-:d:742727

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().