Thermal Comfort Mapping of Outdoor Spaces at the Athens' University Campus

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2843782 265 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Στρατηγικές Διαχείρισης Περιβάλλοντος
Library of the School of Science
Deposit date:
2019-01-24
Year:
2019
Author:
Papageorgiou Vaia
Supervisors info:
Δρ. Νάστος Π. Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ
Δρ. Βασιλάκης Ε. Επίκουρος καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ
Δρ. Αντωνίου Β. Δρ. Γεωλόγος Ε.Δ.Ι.Π. ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Χαρτογράφηση της θερμικής άνεσης σε υπαίθριους χώρους της Πανεπιστημιούπολης
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
Thermal Comfort Mapping of Outdoor Spaces at the Athens' University Campus
Summary:
Environmental or ecological problems are called disturbances in the earth's biosphere and in the natural environment, which are usually attributed to human activity. Environmental problems are considered to be a cause of deterioration in the quality of human life. For this reason, bioclimatic conditions, especially those related to the thermal comfort of humans, play an important role in the quality of life, because they directly affect health, productivity, prosperity, and the economy. In particular, the concept of thermal comfort doesn’t refer to a meteorological phenomenon, but to the influence of weather of human and is a study on the science of Biometeorology - Bioclimatology.
Human comfort is a complex reaction between many environmental parameters, with urbanization generating negative effects on the thermal sensation of humans (Emmanuel, 2005). In recent decades, Greece has witnessed significant urban development and it’s obvious that in open spaces it’s not possible for man to intervene to a significant extent in order to shape their microclimate, as outdoors. It’s imperative to create more open spaces in big cities. However, most studies of thermal comfort relate to the indoor environment rather than to the outside, because people in developed countries, where most studies originate, spend more than 90% of their time indoors (Höppe, 2002 ), (Spagnolo & de Dear, 2003). However, in recent years a great deal has been done to understand the microclimatic conditions of thermal comfort in openair spaces and many studies have been conducted globally, wherever outdoor studies are usually based on internal comfort standards.
The purpose of this postgraduate thesis is to evaluate the bio-meteorological index “Discomfort Index (DI)”. Discomfort Index is the most common and simple index to calculate thermal comfort. It is considered a purely empirical indicator and is based on a series of observations and is a function of the air temperature and humidity of the atmosphere.
Field measurements include monitoring of meteorological parameters such as relative humidity (RH), air temperature (Tair) and surface temperature (Ts).
The aim of the present study is to provide an assessment of the relationship between the various parameters affecting the human thermal comfort in outdoor spaces at Athens’ University Campus. Understanding the conditions of thermal comfort in urban open spaces can improve their viability during periods of very high temperature. The structure of the work is done in six chapters. The following chapters become a theoretical approach.
Chapter 1 gives an overview of the evolution and role of Biometeorology - Bioclimology.
Chapter 2 gives a brief reference to the concept of microclimate, as well as the parameters affected.
Chapter 3 analyzes the concept of thermal comfort and the parameters that are interrelated with it.
Chapter 4 gives an overview and reference of indicators related to thermal comfort and indicators used for outdoor areas.
In Chapter 5, we focus on the Poor Index, the measurements of the study field are presented, and an evaluation of the results is made.
Chapter 6 presents the conclusions.
Main subject category:
Science
Keywords:
thermal comfort, discomfort index (DI), microclimate and outdoor spaces
Index:
No
Number of index pages:
0
Contains images:
Yes
Number of references:
80
Number of pages:
124
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