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Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075

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A 3D CAD-based simulation tool for prediction and evaluation

of the thermal improvement effect of passive cooling walls in the
developed urban locations
Jiang He *, Akira Hoyano
Interdisciplinary Graduate School, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259-G5-2 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8502, Japan

Received 2 July 2008; received in revised form 1 December 2008; accepted 14 January 2009
Available online 24 February 2009

Communicated by Associate editor: Matheos Santamouris

Abstract

As a passive cooling strategy aimed at controlling increased surface temperatures and creating cooler urban environments, the authors
have developed a passive cooling wall (PCW) constructed of moist void bricks that are capable of absorbing water and which allow wind
penetration, thus reducing their surface temperatures by means of water evaporation. Passive cooling effects, such as solar shading, radi-
ation cooling and ventilation cooling can be enhanced by incorporating PCWs into the design of outdoor or semi-enclosed spaces in
parks, pedestrian areas and residential courtyards. The purpose of the present paper is to detail the development of a 3D CAD-based
simulation tool that can be used to predict and evaluate the thermal improvement effect in urban locations where PCW installation is
under consideration. Measurement results for the surface reduction effect of a PCW are introduced in the first part of the paper. In
the second part, thermal modeling of a PCW is proposed based on analysis results of experimental data. Following that, a comparison
study that integrates the proposed thermal modeling was conducted to validate the simulation method. In order to demonstrate the appli-
cability of the developed simulation tool, a case study was then performed to predict and evaluate the thermal improvement effect at an
actual urban location where PCWs were installed. Simulations were performed by modeling the construction location in two scenarios;
one where the PCWs were composed of dry bricks, and another where the bricks were wet. The results show that, in terms of surface
temperature and mean radiant temperature (MRT), this simulation tool can provide quantitative predictions and evaluations of thermal
improvements resulting from the installation of PCWs.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Passive cooling; Void brick; Evaporation; Thermal environment; Surface temperature; Simulation

1. Introduction cantly in recent years. As pointed out in a number of

Summer thermal environments in urban areas have been
deteriorating as urbanization progresses. This can be
understood by taking into consideration the environmental
problems resulting from the urban heat island effect, which
in recent years has had a major impact on only large cities,
but also on mid-sized cities and small towns as well. Addi-
tionally, the number of very hot days and the number of
people suffering from heat stress have increased signifi-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 459245510; fax: +81 459245553.
E-mail address: kakohe.j.aa@m.titech.ac.jp (J. He).
reports, the latter has something to do with the former. It
is well known that the worsening urban thermal environ-
ment is primarily due to the massive amount of artifi-
cially-generated heat from human activities as well as
from the changes in land coverage that occur when natural
cover (such as trees and plants) are replaced by buildings
and pavement.
From the viewpoint of land-coverage changes, the heating
and heat storage effect of pavement and building surfaces
resulting from sunlight have been recognized as a major
cause of urban heat island formation. This is because most
types of pavement and building exteriors are fabricated from

0038-092X/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2009.01.006
 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075
Nomenclature
a solar absorptance
cp specific heat (J/(kg K))
cm humid air specific heat (J/(kg K))
D thickness of a brick (m)
L latent heat (J/kg)
RS solar insolation on the brick surface (W/m2)
RL long-wave radiation from the surroundings (W/
m 2)
t time (h)
T temperature (K)
x distance in normal to an external surface (m)
Xa absolute humidity mixing ratio at temperature
of Ta (kg/kg(DA))
Xs absolute humidity mixing ratio at temperature
of Ts (kg/kg(DA))
materials with low albedo and high thermal retention capac-
ities, such as asphalt and concrete. As a result, they absorb a
great deal of solar heat during the day, and their surfaces
remain warmer than the surrounding air at night due to
the retained solar energy. This indicates that reducing the
heat absorbed by these surfaces, or otherwise lowering their
surface temperatures, would be an effective method of
improving outdoor urban thermal environments and miti-
gating the urban heat island effect.
As a passive cooling strategy for controlling the increase
of urban surface temperatures and creating a comfortable
thermal environment, the authors have developed a passive
cooling wall (PCW) constructed of moist void bricks capa-
ble of absorbing water (Shirai, Hoyano et al., 1995, Hoy-
ano and Shirai, 1995, 1997). A PCW has features that
allow wind to pass through it, and thus reduce its temper-
ature by facilitating the evaporation of water stored in the
bricks. As shown in Fig. 1, the PCW provides a shaded
area free from direct solar radiation while the PCW surface
itself can be cooled by evaporation. This results in cooler
surfaces in outdoor locations on summer days. Further-
more, the air passing through the PCW can be further
cooled when a breeze is blowing. As a result, the following
passive cooling effects can be created: (1) solar shading, (2)
Fig. 1. Schematic description of a passive cooling wall constructed of
moist void bricks.
1065
v air velocity (m/s)
Greek symbols
ac convection coefficient (W/(m2 K))
b evaporation efficiency (surface wet ratio)
e emissivity
k thermal conductivity (W/(m K))
q density (kg/m3)
r Stefan-Boltzmann constant (W/(m2K4))
Subscripts
a air
i windward side
o leeward side
s surface
radiation cooling and (3) ventilation cooling. It is expected
that PCWs will be increasingly installed in outdoor loca-
tions or semi-enclosed locations such as parks, pedestrian
areas, patios and residential courtyards.
As described in literature (e.g. Givoni, 1994), porous
materials such as unglazed pottery have long been used to
improve thermal comfort in residential spaces by assisting
passive evaporative cooling. However, previous studies on
passive cooling walls that allow wind penetration are scarce.
In order to investigate the cooling effects of the devel-
oped PCW, experiments have been conducted in the labo-
ratory and at outdoor locations using mock-ups and
prototype walls. The experimental results were documented
in our previous papers (Shirai et al., 1997, 2000, 2002). This
paper focuses on the development of a numerical simula-
tion tool that can be used to predict and evaluate the ther-
mal improvement effect in developed urban locations where
PCW installation is under consideration. The measured
results of surface temperature reductions resulting from a
PCW will be introduced in the first part of the paper. In
the second part, we will describe thermal modeling for pre-
dicting external surface temperatures of a PCW. A compar-
ison study, in which the proposed thermal modeling was
integrated, will then be conducted to validate the simula-
tion method. In addition, in order to demonstrate the
applicability of the developed simulation tool, a case study
will be carried out to predict and evaluate temperature dis-
tributions of all external surfaces in an actual outdoor
space where PCWs have been installed.
2. Description of the PCW
2.1. Void bricks
As shown in Fig. 2, we developed two types of water-
permeable void bricks: (1) slit-type brick (Type 1) and (2)
open-type brick (Type 2). A slit-type brick has 11 slit-
1066 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075

Fig. 2. Photos and diagrams of void bricks developed by the authors. Fig. 4. Experimental results of cooling effect of the developed bricks.

shaped ventilation channels while an open-type brick has

three square-shaped channels. The temperature reduction Table 1
Specifications of the developed brick’s material.
effect of air passing through a PCW constructed of slit-type
bricks is greater than that of the open-type bricks. On the Baking temperature 1000 °C
Density in dry condition 1750.55 kg/m3
other hand, the volume of air passing through a slit-type Density in water-saturated condition 2012.60 kg/m3
PCW is smaller than that for an open-type PCW under Maximum absorbed water content in weight 14.9%
the same inflow condition. To examine the difference of
cooling effect between slit-type and open-type bricks,
experiments were conducted in the laboratory using an 250
Water penetration height (mm)

experimental setup illustrated in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows exper-

imental results under the experimental conditions that air 200
temperature and relative humidity of inflow were kept to
150
be 32 °C and 40%, respectively. As seen in Fig. 4, the air
temperature were reduced by 3 and 1 °C after passing Brick
100
through the slit-type and open-type bricks, respectively. water Water penetration
From this result, it can be understood that the temperature 50 height
reduction effect for a slit-type PCW is greater than that for
an open-type PCW. 0
Specifications for the developed brick’s material are 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10(hour)
24
listed in Table 1. Fig. 5 shows the variations of water pen-
Fig. 5. Variation of water penetration height after soaking in water.
etration height for a brick material sample over a period of
several hours. After soaking the bottom of the brick in
water, it took about 3 h for water penetration to reach a
level equal to the height of a standard brick (84 mm).

2.2. Water supply method

A U-shaped steel liner (tray) is sandwiched between

upper and lower bricks as shown in Fig. 6. The ends of

Fig. 6. Schematic description of water supply method for a PCW.

these liners are connected to a vertical rectangular duct at

each corner of a PCW. Water is supplied into one edge,
Fig. 3. Section of experimental setup and locations of measurement
flows along the liner tray where some of it is absorbed into
points. the brick bottoms, then out from the other edge. A sponge
 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075 1067

is sandwiched between the bricks and the tray. This water

supply method ensures that each brick can be indepen-
dently water-supplied, and that the surface of the supply
water will remain stable and at a certain level.

2.3. Characteristics of surface temperature distribution

Prototype PCWs were constructed on the roof of a two-

story building. A thermograph for the PCWs is shown at
the right of Fig. 7. The thermograph was taken at a time
when the PCWs were completely wet. It can be seen that
the surface temperature for the south-facing PCW was
29–30 °C, which is lower than the dry-bulb temperature
(DBT) by 3–4 °C and higher than the wet-bulb temperature
(WBT) by 2–3 °C. The surface temperature for the east-fac-
ing PCW, which was not exposed to direct solar radiation,
was approximately 25 °C, nearly equal to the wet-bulb tem-
perature. Fig. 8 shows the diurnal variations of the surface
temperature on the windward and leeward sides of the
south-facing PCW on a sunny day. The temperatures indi-
cated in Fig. 8 were the results measured by thermocouples
Fig. 8. Diurnal variations of brick surface temperature, ambient dry-bulb
that provide an accuracy of 0.1 °C. It is obvious that the
temperature (DBT), wet-bulb temperature (WBT) on a sunny day (Sep. 7).
surface temperature on the leeward side, which was not
exposed to direct solar radiation, was equal to the WBT
throughout the day. The interior surface temperature of of water consumption between slit-type and open-type
the brick was also equal to the WBT. PCWs was not found.

2.4. Water consumption of a PCW
Two slit-type PCWs and one open-type PCW were
used to measure water consumption. These test PCWs
were facing south during measurements. Measurement
results of water consumption for a period of four sum-
mer sunny days were presented in Fig. 9. From the fig-
ure, it can be seen that the maximum of water
consumption was approximately 35 g/(m2 min). The max-
imum of diurnal water consumption was 15 kg/(m2 day)
during the measurement period. A significant difference
3. Numerical simulation
3.1. Methodology
As can be understood from the measurement results
described above, PCW surface temperatures can be
reduced below ambient air temperature by water evapora-
tion. In order to predict and evaluate the expected thermal
improvement of a PCW in a developed urban environment
during design stages, numerical simulations are a necessary
and practical alternative to physical experiments. As a
design tool for supporting the prediction and evaluation

Fig. 7. The left and right are a photo of PCWs and thermograph taken at noon on a sunny summer day (Aug. 11), respectively.
1068 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075

(a) Weather conditions

1200 35
Dry-bulb temp. Wet-bulb temp.
1000 30

800 25

600 20

400 15

200 10
0 5
Total horizontal solar radiation
Wind speed Wind direction
3.0 N

2.5
E
2.0

1.5 S

1.0
W
0.5

0 N

(b) Water consumption

45
Slit-type Slit-type Open-type
35

25

15

-5
0:00 12:00 0:00 12:00 0:00 12:00 0:00 12:00 0:00
Aug. 9 Aug. 10 Aug. 11 Aug. 12

Fig. 9. Measurement results of water consumption of test PCWs on summer sunny days.

of thermal improvements resulting from the installation of
PCWs, we adapted a numerical simulation method using
the 3D CAD-based simulation tool that was previously
developed by our research group. A PCW was modeled
and a calculation algorithm for its surface temperature
was integrated into the simulation tool. The simulation
methodology is described below.
3.2. Description of the developed simulation tool
The simulation process is outlined in Fig. 10. The sim-
ulation is performed using 3D CAD models for build-
ings, trees and other structures in the area being
analyzed. Three-dimensional spatial forms of the build-
ings, trees, etc., and two-dimensional ground surfaces
are divided into mesh grids, and thermophysical data
of construction materials, such as albedo and conductiv-
ity and solar transmittance, are assigned to the grids. An
automatic mesh-dividing process has been integrated and
only uniform mesh can be used in the present version of
the tool. A uniform mesh size of 0.2 m was used in the
simulation.
The external surface temperature for each mesh can be
calculated by solving a non-steady-state one-dimensional
heat balance equation in normal to the surface. In the heat
balance equation, three-dimensional radiation irradiated
on the surface is taken into account. The short-wavelength
radiation on the surface is direct solar insolation, sky solar
radiation and reflected solar radiation. Reflected solar radi-
ation includes both specular reflection and isotropic diffuse
reflection. Only the first reflected solar radiation is consid-
ered in the present study. Atmospheric radiation and long-
wavelength radiation from the surroundings are considered
in the long-wavelength radiation irradiated on the surface.
Sky solar radiation and atmospheric radiation are calcu-
lated from the sky view factor for each mesh.
The sky view factor is calculated by the multi-tracing
simulation from the mesh toward multiple hemispherical
directions. The tracing direction is established so that the
tracing density (interval) comes to have the same shape fac-
tor. The sky view factor is estimated by counting the num-
ber of tracers reaching the boundary surfaces. The shape
factor for calculating the reflected solar radiation and
long-wavelength radiation from the surroundings is deter-
 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075 1069

The backward-difference method is used for solving the

non-steady-state heat balance equation. One simulation is
run using 5-day weather data in 5-min time steps in order
to obtain a periodic steady-state solution. The simulated
results of surface temperatures for the 5th day are output
and used for analysis.
As outputs of the simulation, temperatures of all exter-
nal surfaces can be predicted and visualized on the 3D
models (see the lower left corner of Fig. 10). From the cal-
culated results of surface temperatures, mean radiant tem-
perature (MRT) at a point can be estimated. The mean
radiant temperature at a point is the measure of the com-
bined effects of the temperatures of all surfaces that sur-
round the point. The larger the surface area is and the
closer one is to it, the more effect the surface temperature
of that surface has on the individual. The MRT at a height
of 1 m above the ground was used to evaluate thermal com-
fort in outdoor human activity

@T  aci
k ¼ aRsi þ eðRL  rT 4si Þ þ aci ðT ai  T si Þ  Lb ðX si  X ai Þ ð1Þ
@x x¼0 cm

@T  aco
Fig. 10. Description of the simulation tool.
mined by the same method used in the estimation of the sky
view factor.
Convective heat transfer is calculated on the assumption
that ambient air temperature and wind velocity are uni-
formly distributed in the outdoor spaces at the time of
analysis. This assumption is valid under weather conditions
with low wind velocity. The surface convection coefficient
is considered to be a function of air velocity and is given
by Jurges’ equation.
The non-steady-state one-dimensional heat conduction
equation for each mesh is solved using the above-men-
tioned heat balance data as boundary conditions for exter-
nal surfaces. Boundary conditions for internal surfaces are
the indoor air temperature for the buildings and the under-
ground temperature for the ground. Rooms on the same
floor of a building are considered to be a single room,
and the indoor air temperature is uniformly distributed at
the time of analysis.
The tree shape is modeled as a 3D CAD model and the
crown is composed of meshes containing solar transmit-
tance data. Solar transmission radiation decreases as it
passes through the tree mesh model. This mesh model
makes it possible to quantify the influence of the position
and distance of sunlight passage within the crown on solar
transmission. The surface temperature of a tree’s crown is
calculated by empirical formulas derived from the experi-
mental data, and can be expressed as a function of the solar
radiation incident on the surface, ambient air temperature,
and wind velocity (Shimokawa et al., 1996).
k  ¼ aRso þ eðRL  rT 4so Þ þ aco ðT ao  T so Þ  Lb ðX so  X ao Þ ð2Þ
@x x¼D m c
@T k @2T
¼ ð3Þ
@t qcp @x2
spaces in the present study. A detailed description of the
simulation methodology can be found in Asawa et al.
(2008).
3.3. Energy balance equation on the PCW surface
Fig. 11 shows the energy flow on a PCW surface. Non-
steady-state one-dimensional heat balance equations for
external surfaces of a PCW can be expressed by Eqs. 1
and 2. The heat balance equation inside the brick is written
by Eq. 3. In Eq. 1, the left term is the conduction heat
transferred into the brick. At the right of Eq. 1, the first
term is the solar insolation, the second term is the net
long-wave radiation, the third term is the convective heat
flux and the fourth term is the latent heat by evaporation.
In the latent heat term, evaporation efficiency (b) was used
to express the wetting condition of the brick surface. This is
because part of the brick surface may become dry due to
active evaporation when exposed to direct solar radiation,
causing the surface temperature to rise, as can be seen in
Fig. 12. The shaded brick surfaces, such as the internal sur-
faces in the ventilation channels, can be kept completely
Fig. 11. Energy flowpaths at the PCW surface.
1070 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075
wetted. As understood from the above-mentioned measure-
ment results, the surface temperature for the shaded brick
surface can be considered to be equal to the wet-bulb
temperature.
Because the simulation methodology is valid under low
wind velocity weather conditions (wind speed less than
3 m/s), the wind velocity on the windward and leeward
sides of a PCW is assumed to be the same as the input
weather data. The PCW surface temperature is calculated
by solving Eq. 3, using Eqs. 1 and 2 as boundary condi-
tions. The brick openings are composed of quadrangle sur-
faces as shown in Fig. 13. Each square is 20  20 cm and
equal to the size of the minimum mesh used in the calcula-
tion. Temperatures of the quadrangle surfaces are consid-
ered to be equal to the wet-bulb temperature. The
number of the squares is determined by the ratio of open-
ings to the sectional area of a brick. The ratio of openings
is 34% and 48% for a slip-type and open-type brick,
respectively.
3.4. Validation of the simulation method
In order to validate the proposed simulation method, we
carried out a comparison study of the simulated and mea-
12
10
8
6 4
4 2
2 0
0
-2
-4
Difference between surface temperature and ambient air temperature
Fig. 12. The top photo shows the test PCWs. The middle and bottom are
thermographs of the PCWs that were exposed to direct daytime solar
radiation.
The PCW (Type2,Ratio of openings=48%) Visualization of surface temperature 20cm
20cm
Brick openings
Fig. 13. Description of surface temperature calculation method.
sured surface temperatures. Measurements were conducted
using the experimental PCW shown in Fig. 14. A compar-
ison study was carried out to determine the evaporation
efficiency. Surface temperatures of the experimental PCW
were calculated using the proposed simulation method
under calculation conditions in which the evaporation effi-
ciency was assumed to be a value between 0.0 and 1.0. The
results of the comparison study showed that strong agree-
ment was found between the simulated and measured sur-
face temperatures when the value of evaporation efficiency
was between 0.4 and 0.6. As an example, Fig. 15 shows
diurnal variations of simulated and measured surface tem-
peratures on a sunny day. The evaporation efficiency was
assumed to be 0.5 in the simulation of surface temperature.
Weather conditions for the day are indicated in Fig. 16.
Wind speeds were measured below 2 m/s throughout the
day.
As shown in Fig. 15, the measured surface temperature
was slightly different at different measurement points and
the maximum temperature difference was approximately
5 °C. The average values of the measured surface tempera-
ture for three measurement points ((S1–S3) provided in
Fig. 14) were compared with the simulated results. The cor-
relation between the simulated surface temperature and the
average measured surface temperature is presented in
Fig. 17. From an examination of this figure, it can be deter-
mined that the simulated surface temperature agreed within
Water supply
Measurement
points
S1
S2 M2
S3 M3
M4
8 M5 M1
1008
6
588
-2
-4 Water
tank
660 100 100
Fig. 14. An experimental PCW and locations of measurement points.
 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075 1071

30 building with a meeting room is located at the North end of

S3 (measured) Simulated sureface temp.
the location. A tree with a height of 7 m was growing at the
25 S1 (measured)
S2 (measured) center of the developed urban location. A roof covered rest
station with walls composed of PCWs was constructed at
)

the South end of the location. Illustrations showing the

Temperature (

20 Ambient air

Average of (S1+S2+S3)
15
Table 2
Thermal properties of the void brick.
Solar reflectance Thermal conductivity Specific heat
10 (W/m K) (kJ/(kg K))
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Time (hour) 0.3 0.8 840

Fig. 15. Comparison between simulated and measured surface

temperature.

90 30 800 4
Total horizontal solar radiation
Relative humidity (%)

Solar radiation (W/m 2 )

Air temperature ( )

80 25 600 3 Wind speed (m/s)

Relative humidity
Air temperature
70 20 400 2

Wind speed
60 15 200 1

10 0 0
50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Time(hour)

Fig. 16. Weather data used in the comparison study.

2 °C of the actual measured data. The thermal properties of

the brick used in the simulation are provided in Table 2.

4. Case study

4.1. Description of the analysis object

An actual urban location where PCWs could be installed

was selected for analysis. As shown in Fig. 18, a one-story

30
Simulated surface temperare (ºC)

25

20

15

10

Measured surface temperature (ºC) Fig. 18. Photos of the actual developed location where PCWs were
installed. The top photo is a view from Northwest. The middle photo is a
Fig. 17. Correlation between simulated and measured surface birds-eye view from Southwest. The bottom shows an internal view of the
temperature. rest station from the Southeast.
1072 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075

Fig. 19. Plan (left) and section (right) of the developed location with incorporated PCWs.

Fig. 20. Birds-eye views of 3D CAD models for the developed location with incorporated PCWs.

40 100
The input weather data is for a reference weather year,
Absolute humidity

Absolute humidity
Relative humidity

and was prepared based on data provided by the Transac-

Temperature

35 80
g/kg(DA))

tions of the Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and San-

Relative humidity itary Engineers of Japan. The reasons for choosing this day
30 60
are as follows: (1) high air temperature, (2) low wind speed
Air temperature
25 40 throughout the day, (3) high solar radiation intensity (clear
sky) during the daytime, and (4) cloudy sky at night (cool-
Global solar radiation incident upon a horizontal surface ing by nocturnal radiation is reduced). Urban heat islands
Wind speed m/s)

1000 2.5 form easily during the day. Diurnal variations of air tem-
Solar radiation W/

800 2.0
Wind speed perature, relative humidity, wind speed and solar radiation
600 1.5
are shown in Fig. 21.
400 1.0
200 0.5
Fig. 22 shows the simulated surface temperature distri-
0 0.0 bution for both cases at three different times (09:00, 12:00
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 and 15:00). At 09:00, the surface temperature of the dry
Time hour) brick wall that was not exposed to direct solar radiation
Fig. 21. Weather conditions for a sunny summer day (Aug. 5) in Tokyo.
was nearly equal to the ambient air temperature, whereas
the surface temperature of the wet brick wall was several
degrees lower than the ambient air temperature. At 12:00
design and layout of the rest station are provided in and 15:00, the surface temperatures of the dry brick wall
Fig. 19. 3D CAD models for the location are shown in exposed to direct solar radiation rose above 40 °C and were
Fig. 20. higher than the ambient air temperature by 5–10 °C. The
surface temperature of the wet brick wall, on the other
4.2. Simulation results hand, remained below the ambient air temperature. As
can be seen at the lower right corner of Fig. 22, the ground
The developed location was modeled in two scenarios: surface in the rest station with a roof was also kept at a
(1) Case 1 stipulates that the PCW was composed of dry lower temperature by the surrounding PCWs.
bricks (without the evaporative cooling effect) and (2) Case Fig. 23 shows diurnal variations of the brick surface
2 stipulates that the PCW was composed of wet bricks. temperature for points P1 and P2 indicated in Fig. 19. P1
Simulations were performed using hourly weather data and P2 were set at a height of 1 m above the ground. As
for a typical sunny summer day (August 5) in Tokyo. seen in Fig. 23, in Case 2 (with wet brick walls) the surface
 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075 1073

Fig. 22. Simulation results of surface temperature distribution for the dry (left) and wet (right) brick walls.
1074 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075

temperature (P1) of the Southeast-facing brick remained
lower than the ambient air temperature throughout the
day. Furthermore, the former was 5 °C lower than the lat-
ter during the daytime. The surface temperature (P2) of the
southwest-facing wet brick wall was about 1 °C lower than
the ambient air temperature, except during the period of
13:00–17:00. During the period of 13:00–17:00, the surface
temperature (P2) of the wet brick went higher than the
ambient air temperature because the brick surface was
exposed to direct solar radiation.
In order to thoroughly comprehend the thermal
improvement of the PCWs on thermal comfort in the
developed location, the mean radiant temperature (MRT)
at a height of 1 m above the ground was used as an evalu-
ation index. The simulated results of the MRT distribution
for Case 1 and Case 2 at 12:00 are shown in Fig. 24. The
MRT for Case 2, (wet brick walls), was 2–3 °C lower than
that for Case 1 (dry brick walls). Furthermore, from the
lower thermal image seen in Fig. 24, it can also be stated
that the MRT near the wet brick walls was the lowest
and measured 2–4 °C less than the ambient air
temperature.
5. Conclusions
tion can be visually understood by comparing the simula-
tion results of the two cases.
In conclusion, in terms of surface temperature and mean
radiant temperature (MRT) distribution, the authors
found that the developed simulation tool can be used dur-
ing design stages to evaluate the thermal improvements
that might result from installation of PCWs in developed
urban environments.
6. Final remarks
The main goal of the study presented in this paper is to
describe a simulation tool for quantifying the improvement
effect of the PCW on the thermal radiation environment
from surface temperature reductions. Except the radiation
cooling effect, the PCW can also provide air temperature
reduction effect and ventilation cooling effect as well. In
50
P1 (dry brick surface)
Temperature (ºC) 45 P2 (dry brick surface)
P2 (wet brick surface)
40 Ambient air
35

In order to predict and evaluate the thermal improve- 30

ment effect in a developed urban location where applica-
tion of a passive cooling wall (PCW) is under design 25
P1 (wet brick surface)
stage consideration, a numerical simulation method was 20
developed and presented in this paper. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
A PCW was constructed of moist void bricks and was Time (hour)
found to be capable of providing the following passive
Fig. 23. Diurnal variations of dry and wet brick surface temperature.
cooling effects: solar shading, evaporative cooling and ven-
tilation cooling. Our measured results show that the day-
time surface temperature of the PCW that was exposed
to direct solar radiation was lower or slightly higher than
the dry-bulb temperature, and that the surface temperature
for the PCW that was not exposed to direct solar radiation
was nearly equal to the wet-bulb temperature when the
PCW was completely wet.
Based on the above-mentioned measurement results, a
thermal model for calculating the surface temperature of
a PCW was proposed. The calculation algorithm based
on the proposed thermal model was integrated into a 3D
CAD-based simulation tool previously developed by the
authors’ group. An examination of a comparison between
the simulated and measured results for a test PCW deter-
mined that the simulated surface temperature of the
PCW agreed with the actual measured data within a range
of 2 °C.
Furthermore, a case study was conducted to predict and
evaluate the thermal improvement of PCWs on the envi-
ronment of an actual developed location. Simulations were
performed by modeling the developed location in both wet
and dry scenarios. The surface temperature reductions
caused by the PCWs and the places where a cooler radiant Fig. 24. Comparison of MRT at 1 m above ground for the cases with dry
environment was formed in the examined installation loca- (top) and wet (bottom) brick walls.
 J. He, A. Hoyano / Solar Energy 83 (2009) 1064–1075
order to evaluate these effects, a coupled simulation
method is being developed (Kakuya et al., 2007). This cou-
pled simulation method makes it possible to predict solar
and thermal radiation, airflow and humidity distribution.
However, the calculation load is too great (the computing
time is too long) to carry out the coupled simulation on a
PC at the present time. It still requires a lot of research
and development efforts to integrate the coupled simula-
tion method into a design tool that can be used by a general
designer. In such situation, the simulation tool proposed in
this paper is very useful for the designers who require a
quick analysis of the improvement effect by the difference
of surrounding materials and spatial forms on the thermal
radiation environment during the design phase.
Acknowledgement
This work was in part supported by the New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan
(NEDO) under Contract No. 0827001.
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