ZEMCH 2019 International Conference Proceedings April.2020 | Page 330
Assessment of the OTC (Outdoor Thermal Comfort) in
the UAEU Campus, AL Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Lindita Bandea, Raghad Ghazal a, Kim Younga, Rashed Khalifa Al Shaalia, Kheira Anissa Tabet
Aoula, M. Al Battah a, Afshin Afshari b, Paola Ronca c, Prajowal Manadhar a,
United Arab Emirates University 15551, AL Ain, UAE, [email protected]; [email protected];
a
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected].
b
Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, Fraunhofer str. 10, 83626 Valley, Germany:
[email protected]
c
Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy: [email protected]
*Correspondence: [email protected]; 00971547792797
Abstract: The speed of urban growth in the city of Al Ain brings out a great challenge for all the
professionals involved in the design, planning and construction of buildings and other urban
structures. Al Ain has a hot arid climate with fresh winter and very hot and dry summer. The main
focus of this research is the outdoor thermal comfort of the male and female campuses of the United
Arab Emirates University. The campus is located in the entrance of the city of Al Ain, therefore the
study of the materials in the built environment is crucial.
The outdoor thermal comfort (in this research represented by PET) is an important parameter to
measure the quality of life in a developing city such as Al Ain and within the campus in particular.
The main sub‐domains of the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) models are: zone A (currently
with high metallic shading structure), zone B (no shading devices), zone C (currently with high
metallic shading structure), zone D1 (no shading devices), zone D2 (no shading devices). The
suggested selection of these five zones is based on the high number of users. The site measurement
campaign includes the installation of a range of sensors (air temperature, relative humidity, wind
speed and direction, direct normal and global horizontal solar irradiance) that will monitor the micro‐
climatic conditions to be used as boundary conditions in the CFD simulations done in ENVI‐met
software. By comparing the current situation with the proposed new strategies this study aims to
bring an innovative alternative in improving the OTC.
Keywords: Outdoor Thermal Comfort, Hot arid climate, Green Shading Devices, Evapotranspiration,
CFD Simulations, Cool Pavement, PET, Urban Heat Island
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ZEMCH 2019 International Conference l Seoul, Korea