• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.187-192
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• 2017

This study evaluated the reduction performance of ambient temperature and the amount of evaporation that takes place depends on the temperature difference of paving blocks which are used in the sidewalk, roadway, parking lot, park, plaza, and etc. The water-retentive block of the LID (Low Impact Development) practice was compared with the conventional concrete block. For the quantitative performance evaluation, experiments were performed in a climatic environment chamber capable of controlling the climatic environment (solar radiation, temperature, humidity, rainfall, and snowfall). The method for performance evaluation was proposed using temperature, humidity, and ambient air of paving blocks which changes according to the solar radiation and the wind speed after the rainfall. As a result, the evaporation amount of the water-retentive block was 2.6 times higher than that of the concrete block, the surface temperature of water-retentive block was $10^{\circ}C$ lower than the concrete block, and the air temperature of water-retentive block was $4.6^{\circ}C$ lower than the concrete block. Therefore, it is analyzed that the water-retentive block with a large amount of evaporation is more effective in reducing the urban heat island phenomenon as compared with the concrete block.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.179-189
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• 2016

Here we evaluated the effect of using water retentive pavement or WRP made from fly ash as material for main street in a real city block. We coupled computational fluid dynamics and pavement transport (CFD-PT) model to examine energy balance in the building canopies and ground surface. Two cases of 24 h unsteady analysis were simulated: case 1 where asphalt was used as the pavement material of all ground surfaces and case 2 where WRP was used as main street material. We aim to (1) predict diurnal variation in air temperature, wind speed, ground surface temperature and water content; and (2) compare ground surface energy fluxes. Using the coupled CFD-PT model it was proven that WRP as pavement material for main street can cause a decrease in ground surface temperature. The most significant decrease occurred at 1200 JST when solar radiation was most intense, surface temperature decreased by $13.8^{\circ}C$. This surface temperature decrease also led to cooling of air temperature at 1.5 m above street surface. During this time, air temperature in case 2 decreased by $0.28^{\circ}C$. As the radiation weakens from 1600 JST to 2000 JST, evaporative cooling had also been minimal. Shadow effect, higher albedo and lower thermal conductivity of WRP also contributed to surface temperature decrease. The cooling of ground surface eventually led to air temperature decrease. The degree of air temperature decrease was proportional to the surface temperature decrease. In terms of energy balance, WRP caused a maximum increase in latent heat flux by up to $255W/m^2$ and a decrease in sensible heat flux by up to $465W/m^2$.