• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2010

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the influence of landscaping pavements on WBGT(Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature) of outdoor spaces that lack ventilation and shade at summer midday. The relative humidity(RH), dry-bulb temperature(DT) and globe temperature(GT) were recorded every minute from June to October 2009 at a height of 1.2m above ten experimental beds with different pavements, by a measuring system consisting of an electric humidity sensor(GHM-15), resistance temperature detector(RTD, Pt-100), standard black globe(${\phi} 150mm$) and data acquisition systems(National Instrument's Labview and Compact FieldPoint). Additionally, the surface dry-bulb temperatures also were recorded and compared. The area of each experimental bed was 1.5m(W)${\times}$2.0m(L) and ten different kinds of pavement were used including grass, grass+cubic stone, grass+porous brick, brick, stone panels, cubic stone, interlocking blocks, clay brick, naked soil, gravel and concrete. To prevent interference from ventilation, a 1.5m height cubic steel frame was established around each bed and each vertical side of the frame was covered with transparent polyethylene film. Based on the records of the hottest period from noon to 3 PM on 26 days with a peak dry-bulb temperature over $30^{\circ}C$ at natural condition, the wet-bulb temperature(WT) and WBGT were calculated and compared. The major findings were as follows: 1. The average surface DT was $40.1^{\circ}C$, which is $9^{\circ}C$ higher than that of the natural condition. The surface DT of the pavements with grass were higher than those of concrete and interlocking block. The peak DT of the surface almost every pavement rose to above $50^{\circ}C$ during the hottest time. 2. The averages of DT, WT and GT were $40.1^{\circ}C$, $27.5^{\circ}C$ and $49.1^{\circ}C$, and the peak values rose to $48.1^{\circ}C$, $45.8^{\circ}C$ and $59.5^{\circ}C$, respectively. In spite of slight differences that resulted according to pavements, no coherent differentiating factor could be found. 3. The average WBGT of grass was the highest at $34.3^{\circ}C$ while the others were similar in the range of around $33{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. Meanwhile, the peak WBGT was highest with stone panel at $47.9^{\circ}C$. Though there were some differences according to pavements, and while grass seemed to be worst in terms of WBGT, it seems difficult to say ablolutely that grass was the worst because the measurement was conducted without ventilation and shade during summer daytime hours only, which had temperatures that rose to a dangerous degree(above $45^{\circ}C$ WBGT), withering the grass during the hottest period. The average WBGT resulted also showed that the thermal environment of the pavement without ventilation and shade were at an intolerable level for humans regardless of the pavement type. In summary, the results of this study show that ventilation and shade are more important factor than pavement type in terms of outdoor thermal comfort in summer daylight hours.