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Literature research about ENVI-met

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Introduction

A three-dimensional non-hydrostatic microclimate model, ENVI-met can calculate and

simulate urban areas' climates with a typical grid resolution of 0.5 to 10 meters in space and 10

seconds in time. It can also model three-dimensional weather patterns. Applying elementary

principles of thermodynamics and fluid dynamics, it calculates the microclimate's dynamics

throughout a 24- to 48-hour diurnal cycle. When creating predictions, the software mainly

considers the following variables: wind speed and direction, air temperature and humidity,

turbulence, radiative fluxes, bioclimatology, and gas and particle dispersion. There are four

distinct UIs included with the modelling program. The first stage is revising the input of the

domain layout-specific digital maps. This means that either gathering baseline data from other GI

systems is essential, or else creating the data in ENVI-met's cartographic format is the only

option. This may be a pretty involved process depending on the chosen environmental domain

that will serve as the workplace. At smaller sizes (0.5), the user can become more granular,

whereas at lower scales (say, 10 meters in a 1 km by 1 km neighbourhood survey) they may be

more coarse and less detailed. This is made feasible by the application's high-resolution features.

It is theoretically feasible to go on to an area study of about 1300 meters by 1300 meters, given

that the program is made up of modules of working areas, such as a maximum of 130 by 130.

The configuration editor is one such interface; it lets users choose a variety of parameters,

including soil type, humidity, temperature, and input time. Thirdly, there's the modelling section,

which is responsible for running the models and providing supplementary parameters.

LEONARDO can visualize the results and provide interpretations based on them. It is also

possible to change the data to other programs as the program's structure is publicly available.

Civil Engineering is a field that continually develops; the effort to create sustainable and resilient
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urban structures has gone up. A significant issue in urban planning is analysing the impact of the

built environment on microclimates and mitigating it. This literature review focuses on

incorporating the microclimate simulation software ENVI-met in civil engineering practices to

support the proper design and planning of urban/urban space. Urbanization causes a range of

issues including modified microclimates, heightened heat islands and impaired air quality. These

issues are addressed by civil engineers who include modern tools and methodologies in the

process of designing and planning. ENVI-met is a microclimate simulation software created by

the company, ENVI-met GmbH. This tool allows engineers to investigate and optimize thermal

and aerodynamic conditions in urban settings.

ENVI-met for civil engineering

ENVI-met is still a driving factor for cities to implement strategies to reduce central city

air temperatures. This is because the combination of the urban heat island effect and global

warming remains a driving factor. Together and separately, these initiatives mitigate the effects

of the urban heat island and provide a means for politicians to try to mitigate the local

populations' vulnerability to climate change. One common strategy for reducing the temperature

of city air is to cover urban areas with reflective surfaces (high albedo) (Liu et al., 2021). Many

different kinds of vegetation, modifications to urban canyons, shade buildings, and other similar

techniques may be used as mitigation strategies. But one of the most popular ways to reduce air

temperatures in cities is to build shade structures. Cities must be able to plan or modify their built

environment to reduce air temperatures during heat waves if they are to combat the effects of

urbanization and climate change, which are driving up urban air temperatures (Faragallah &

Ragheb, 2022). Major obstacles to these mitigation strategies' broad adoption include the high

cost of citywide installation and the general lack of quantitative observational data about their
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efficacy in reducing air temperatures. Thus, researchers have turned to computer models to

faithfully portray the architectural environment and atmosphere of metropolitan areas. City

planners may find it more cost-effective to use these models to examine the effectiveness of

mitigation strategies in smaller, targeted areas of the urban area rather than testing them across

entire domains (Alsaad et al., 2022). These models may be capable of doing this.

Urban microclimate applications may make use of a variety of current computer models

with spatial resolutions ranging from one to four meters. These models capture the controlling

flow equations and the urban surface energy balance using a range of different approaches. Two

such methods are TEB and RayMan (Liu et al., 2021). The effects of fluid flow in the urban

canyon are ignored by these methods, which only consider the radiation budget. In addition to

radiation budget simulations (e.g., TUF-3D), some models also use large eddy simulations (LES)

to analyze fluid flow around urban canyon constructions (Crank et al., 2023). Several urban

models use Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, which are more cost-effective

computationally than the Linguistic Element Method (LES) and have a high degree of accuracy

(Liu et al., 2023). Other, more user-friendly scripts are available, for example, SOLWEIG and

ENVImet (Faragallah & Ragheb, 2022). There are major advantages and disadvantages to this

feature.

One Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach that uses RANS equations is the

ENVI-met model, which aims to solve problems related to airflow and heat transfer in urban

settings. This concept was first proposed by Bruse when he was doing dissertation research in

Germany in the late 1990s (Crank et al., 2023). The most current version of the model, v.4, was

published after it underwent several changes and improvements in the summer of 2016. Most

researchers may use this software with little to no training or expertise because of the model's
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user-friendly interface and the comparatively easy input technique. The most lauded part of the

model is its capacity to simulate complex urban geometries and vegetation, while also taking into

account energy inputs like vehicle waste heat and the effects of water features.

Past Validation Efforts

Since ENVI-met has been widely used in the field of urban climate research over the past

two decades, several studies have used it to illustrate urban environments. Just a few of these

research, including (Rad & Afzali, 2021), have critically examined the model's representation of

meteorological variables beyond air temperature. Researchers in the area of urban climate have

used ENVI-met to model the global impacts of complicated urban geometries and materials on

wind speed and direction, relative humidity, and air temperature. Deserts and arid climates,

tropical humid climates, urban climates in the middle and upper latitudes, and dry climates are

all part of these areas' climatic profiles (Iaria & Susca, 2022). Several of these studies used air

temperature data from within the canyon to support the ENVI-met finding. However, most

models forget to factor in how the output could alter depending on tweaks to the input

parameters or the model's grid layout. There is a dearth of justification in the literature on the use

of either default or custom settings, even though the model's default parameters are often suitable

or even preferred for certain applications. This investigation's albedo enhancement method, like

the one often utilized in the literature, is associated with several difficulties. There is a

relationship between the amount of light reflected off a surface and its albedo; for instance,

freshly laid asphalt pavement has a lower albedo than old asphalt paving, and the former

becomes more reflective over time. Conversely, as time passes dirt accumulates and the surface

wears down from constant use, surfaces with a high albedo will reflect less light (think of a white

membrane roof as an example). On top of that, a shaded surface will behave differently from an
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unshadowed one, regardless of whether the two surfaces have the same albedo. An urban feature

that is highly shadowed in the region where the improvement is performed might potentially

mitigate the impact of the albedo increase.

Conclusion

With the help of such microclimate simulation software, engineers can form sound

judgments that have a positive effect on outdoor comfort and energy efficiency as well as general

urban viability. Civil engineering as a field is constantly changing and currently ENVI- met is an

indispensable tool for forming cities of the future.

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References

Alsaad, H., Hartmann, M., Hilbel, R., & Voelker, C. (2022). ENVI-met validation data

accompanied with simulation data of the impact of facade greening on the urban

microclimate. Data in Brief, 42, 108200.

Crank, P. J., Middel, A., Coseo, P., & Sailor, D. J. (2023). Microclimate impacts of

neighbourhood redesign in a desert community using ENVI-met and Marty. Urban

Climate, 52, 101702.

Faragallah, R. N., & Ragheb, R. A. (2022). Evaluation of thermal comfort and urban heat island

through cool paving materials using ENVI-Met. Ain Shams Engineering Journal, 13(3),

101609.

Iaria, J., & Susca, T. (2022). Analytic Hierarchy Processes (AHP) evaluation of green roof-and

green wall-based UHI mitigation strategies via ENVI-met simulations. Urban

Climate, 46, 101293.

Liu, Z., Cheng, K. Y., Sinsel, T., Simon, H., Jim, C. Y., Morakinyo, T. E., ... & Ng, E. (2023).

Modelling microclimatic effects of trees and green roofs/façades in ENVI-met:

Sensitivity tests and proposed model library. Building and Environment, 244, 110759.

Liu, Z., Cheng, W., Jim, C. Y., Morakinyo, T. E., Shi, Y., & Ng, E. (2021). Heat mitigation

benefits of urban green and blue infrastructures: A systematic review of modelling

techniques, validation and scenario simulation in ENVI-met V4. Building and

Environment, 200, 107939.

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Rad, H. R., & Afzali, N. (2021). Measuring effects of building orientation and vegetation on

thermal comfort by ENVI-met (Case study: Maslak area, Istanbul). A| Z ITU JOURNAL

OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, 18(1), 127-137.