Evaluating the Impact of Convection, Conduction, and Input Parameters on Ground Surface Temperature Simulations Using SOLENE-Microclimat

Surface temperature plays a critical role in urban microclimate modeling, influencing outdoor thermal comfort, building energy consumption, and urban heat island (UHI) effects. However, simulating accurately urban surface temperatures is a complex process that requires accounting for various factors such as urban morphology, material properties, climate conditions, and vegetation. In addition to these external factors, the choice of convection and conduction models used in simulations significantly impacts the accuracy of temperature predictions.

This study aims to evaluate the influence of different convection and conduction models on the prediction of urban surface temperatures using the SOLENE-Microclimat model (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65421-4_13) for a simple urban configuration at the neighborhood scale. The analysis includes four convection heat transfer correlations and three conduction models with varying levels of complexity and approaches.

The simulations were conducted on a pedestrian pavement in a relatively open area of Bonneuil-sur-Marne, France, under clear summer weather conditions. This test site was originally designed to evaluate pedestrian heat stress under various road structures that meet the standards of the Paris Road Department. The simulation results presented in this paper are compared to in-situ measurements collected during the summer of 2022. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the impact of ground thickness and material properties on the performance of the convection and conduction models.

The results indicate that the choice of conduction and convection models significantly affects the temporal evolution of surface temperatures, particularly the rate of temperature rise and fall, as well as the daily temperature amplitude. Among the conduction models, the finite differences model demonstrated the best performance in simulating ground surface temperatures. For convection models, the wind-speed-based model  and Verhencamp’s empirical model provided the most accurate results.