THERMAL RADIATIVE MODELLING OF WATER POND AND ITS INFLUENCES

ON MICROCLIMATE


Mirela Robitu
*
, Marjorie Musy
*
, Dominique Groleau
*
, Christian Inard
**

*CERMA Laboratory, Architectural School of Nantes, Nantes, France
**
LEPTAB Laboratory, University of La Rochelle, La Rochelle, France


Abstract

Water surfaces may improve urban climate and reduce the energy need for cooling the buildings. To evaluate
quantitatively this impact, thermal model, which includes solar radiation, and flow equations, which include air
humidity, were coupled. The model of the water pond considers the radiation absorbed, transmitted and reflected
and was solved numerically by using finite difference. The procedure for coupling is given and a simple example
shows the type of results that can be obtained.

Key words: water pond, radiation, evaporative cooling.


1. INTRODUCTION

As compared to synoptic scale, climate in urban environment is modified by local heat, mass, and momentum
balances influencing air quality, thermal comfort and energy consumption of buildings (Oke 1999). Climatologists
proposed to planners more strategies to improve urban climate: more vegetation, higher albedo (Akbari et al.,
1992) or water ponds favouring the cooling by evaporation (Givoni and La Roche 2000). These strategies enable
us to modify the climatic impact of urban structures.
The presence of water ponds improves the urban thermal environment by evaporative cooling the air in summer
time. In spite of its importance, the quantitative estimation of this improvement is badly known due to the
complexity of the phenomena concerned and the difficulty of obtaining rigorous and reliable physical models.
This study investigates energy exchanges occurring on and in a water pond and proposes a specific model aimed
to support urban planers and engineers.

2. NUMERICAL MODELLING

A numerical model simulating thermal balance is developed in order to evaluate and to study the effect of water
surfaces on the urban thermal environment. The model is based on coupling: the thermal model of the water pond
and the airflow model of the surrounding air. Thermal modelling is carried out with SOLENE, simulation software
of the solar and luminous radiation (Groleau 2000). Airflow modelling is achieved with FLUENT CFD commercial
code, which allows the definition of a non-structured grid, which is essential for the urban scenes modelling. We
developed a procedure for coupling these two tools.

2.1. Thermal model of the water pond

The thermal model allows us to calculate the surface temperature of the elements of the urban scene by taking
into account the heat transfer by radiation, conduction, convection and the latent heat transfer due to water
evaporation. Part of solar radiation incident on the water surface is reflected back at the air-water interface and
the rest penetrates into the water. A fraction of this part is absorbed, raising the water temperature, and the last
fraction is transmitted to the bottom of the pond.

2.1.1. Conduction and evaporation transfer
The equations for conduction and latent heat transfer are:
( )
1

i i
i
i
cond
T T
x

; E L
v evap
; ( ) ( ) ( )u
a vsat Sw vsat e a
t p HR t p
p
C E

. (1, 2)
2.1.2. Radiative heat transfer
The model of radiative heat transfer in the urban scene is divided in two terms: one of them corresponds to solar
band (short-wave radiation, SW, 0.2 - 3m) and the other corresponds to the thermal infrared band (long-wave or
terrestrial radiation, LW, beyond 3m). Global solar contribution is first computed for each element of the water
surface as a sum of the direct, diffuse and reflected irradiances under clear sky conditions. This contribution is
used to initialise a progressive refinement algorithm which treats the multiple reflections between surfaces of the
urban scene in order to obtain the net solar radiation flux. Long-wave radiative exchanges, LW, are computed

*
Corresponding author address: Mirela Robitu, Laboratoire CERMA, UMR CNRS 1563, Ecole d'Architecture de
Nantes, rue Massenet, BP 81931, 44319 Nantes, France; e-mail: mirela.robitu@cerma.archi.fr
Back
using an accurate form factor, Fij, for all the other facets of the scene and the exchanges with the sky are
computed using sky view factor, FSw, sky, (Vinet et al. 2000):

( ) ( ) 213 5 . 5
4
,
+
a Sw Sw sky Sw sky
T T F . (3)

The characteristics of the solar radiation reaching the water surface vary strongly according to sun position, site
location, possible presence of shadings and parameters depending directly on the atmospheric conditions. A part
of the solar radiation which reaches the water surface is reflected in the atmosphere. The rest crosses water
where it is absorbed, changing its temperature. There are many factors which affect the attenuation of the solar
radiation in the water ponds, among which spectral distribution of water properties, the incidence angle, the
thickness of water layer and the reflectivity of the pond bottom. To take into account these various phenomena,
we used the model presented by Cengel and zisik (1984). The model assumptions are:
- The water pond is large enough to neglect the edge effects and to treat water in the pond as a one-
dimensional layer of thickness L (Figure 1).
- The air-water interface is plane thus Fresnels equation is used for reflectivity calculation on both sides of
water-air interface.
- The water-air interface reflects specularly and the pond bottom reflects diffusely (Figure 1).
- The long wave radiation emitted by the water and the pond bottom is negligible.
- The refractive index of water varies very little with the wavelength in the field considered and an average value
of 1.33 can be employed for all the wavelengths.
- The absorption coefficient depends strongly on wavelength. It can be treated as being constant in each
wavelength band if the solar spectrum is divided in a sufficient number of bands.
- Solar radiation incident on the water surface is composed of direct and diffuse solar radiations.

The solar spectrum was divided into 20 bands and the values of the extinction coefficients corresponding to these
bands are given by Cengel and zisik (1984).
Once that solar radiation for each band j is known, the part reaching the bottom, B,j, and the part at various
depths of the pond, net,j(z), is determined by:
( ) [ ] ( ) [ ]

'

1
' 2
,
1 2 1
2 1
1
cr
r
d e a n e a
a
kL
a d
kL
D i a
b
j B

(4)
( ) ( ) [ ] ( ) [ ] ( )
( )
( ) [ ]
1
1
]
1

+ +

+
z L k E d e a a d e a n e a z
z L k
w B b
kz
a d
kz
D i a j net
cr
r
3
1
0
1
' 2
,
2 1 2 1

( )

1
0
2


d e a
kL
w
; ( ) [ ]
2 1
2 2 '
1 1 n ; ( )

1
0
2
3


d e E
n
;
1
]
1

,
_

n
cr
1
sin cos
1
(5 - 9)
By summation, we obtain the total quantities on the entire solar spectrum:

J
j
B B
j
1
, ; ( ) ( )

J
j
j net net
z z
1
,
(10, 11)
The amount of solar radiation absorbed in a layer of water between two levels zk and zk-1 is determined by
equation 12 and the total quantity of energy reflected by the water pond can be determined by equation 13:

( ) ( ) ( )
k net k net k k sa
z z z z
1 1
( ) ( )
3
0
sa sa inc ref
L + (12, 13)

The water pond model is divided into a number of surface and interior nodes. The thermal balance applied in
each node allows us to establish a set of differential equations solved by finite-difference method. The pond is
modelled by considering three layers: the water, the bottom of the pond (i.e. concrete) and the ground (Figure 1).


2.2. CFD model

In the water pond model, we take into account the air flow near the water surface. There is simultaneously a heat
transfer due to the temperature variation between water and air, and a mass transfer due to the gradient of the
specific humidity of water vapour in the air. Latent heat transfer necessary for evaporation accompanies this mass
transfer. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), based on the solution of continuity, energy, Navier-Stokes
equations, conservation of humidity, k- standard model of turbulence and under the Boussinesq hypothesis, can
provide the air speed, temperatures and humidity fields.

R
1

0,9 C
w

T
c

evap

conv

sky,

LW

T
w

T
S i1

R
3

C
c

R
4

sa1
R
2

0,1 C
w

T
S i2

R
5

R
6

T
g

C
g

T
ref

T
Sw

Ground

sa2

sa3

sta

Concrete
Water L

i

I
D

I
r

I
d

cr


( )
w Sw sky LW evap conv sta sa
w w
T T
R
dt
dTs C

1
1
1
10


( ) ( )
1
2 1
2
1 1
10
9
Si w w Sw sa
w w
T T
R
T T
R
dt
dT C
+

( ) ( ) 0
1 1
1
3
1
2
3
+
c Si Si w sa
T T
R
T T
R

( ) ( )
2
4
1
3
1 1
Si c c Si
c
c
T T
R
T T
R
dt
dT
C

( ) ( ) 0
1 1
2
5
2
4

g Si Si c
T T
R
T T
R

( ) ( )
ref g g Si
g
g
T T
R
T T
R
dt
dT
C
6
2
5
1 1

Figure 1 Thermal model of the water pond.

2.3. Methodology for coupling the models

The simulation of the solar and thermal
radiation and the simulation of air flow are
coupled in our numerical model (Figure 2). After
the initial computation of the radiosity in the
solar band, the surface temperatures are
initialised and used to evaluate radiosity in the
long-wave radiation band which is introduced
back into the energy balance equation to
recalculate the temperatures. At each
simulation time t, the surface temperatures,
computed by using the energy balance with the
SOLENE software, are introduced into the CFD
simulation, carried out with FLUENT code, like
boundary conditions. The flow modelling gives
convective flows at the walls. These are then
reintroduced in the heat balance (Figure 2). This
iterative procedure continues until the fixed
criterion of convergence is reached.

Solar radiosity
Initialization TS
Radiosity LW
Energy balance
News TS
Test
maxTs(i+1)-Ts(i)<Tmax
sol, GLO, evap, Ts
YES
NO
T
S
boundary limits
CFD modelling
Convergence test
YES
NO
conv, v, Ta,
Accuracy test
Modify solution
parameters or grid

YES
NO
Thermal model
CFD model

Figure 2 Pond model algorithms; models coupling.

3. APPLICATION OF WATER POND MODEL

The mathematical model described above was applied by using the weather data obtained with the Meteonorm
software for Bucharest, Romania (Lat. 44.45N), June 29 in conditions of clear sky. For comparison, the model is
applied for two types of surface: water and asphalt.

Layers Water pond model Ground model Proprieties Water Concrete Asphalt Ground
Water 0,5m - 0,7 0,7 0,9 -
Concrete 0,2m - a 0,3 0,3 0,1 0,1
Asphalt - 0,2m
ext
0,9 0,9 0,95 -
Ground 1m 1m (W/mK) 0,58 0,9 0,75 0,25
(kg/m3) 1000 2300 2110 1600
c
p
(J/kgK) 4200 960 920 890
(a) (b)
Table 1 a) Layers thickness of the models; b) Solar and thermal properties of materials.
The considered surface is 4m in length and a 4m in width and the physical properties are given in Table 1. The
boundary conditions are a logarithmic law profile for the incoming wind.
The left panel of the Figure 3 depicts the percentage of solar radiation incident on the water surfaces absorbed in
the various parts of the water pond and the solar radiation reflected by water and the right panel depicts air, water
and asphalt surface temperatures. This results show, for example at 12h, that the first layer of water absorbs 30%
of solar radiation incident at the surface, the second one absorbs 13%, the pond bottom absorbs 39% and 18% is
reflected into the atmosphere.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
Time [hour]
S
o
l
a
r

f
l
u
x

[
%
]
Srie1
2
3
4

sa1

sa2

sa3

sta



0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
Time [hour]
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

[

C
]
Ta
TSw
Tsa
T
a

T
Sw

T
Sasph


Figure 3 Solar radiation flux and air, water and asphalt surface temperature.

0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
1,2
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Temperature [C]
y

[
m
]
y
y

T
a
over water

T
a
over asphalt


Figure 4 Air temperatures over water and asphalt surfaces.
The temperature difference between air at the
surfaces of water and asphalt is from 4.8C at 1h to
38.4C at 13h (Figure 3, right panel). This difference
is due to water evaporation, with a latent heat flow
from 83 Wm
-2
at 1h to 100 Wm
-2
at 18h and due to
asphalt absorptivity equal to 0.9 (Table 1). The air
temperature, over the water or asphalt surface,
obtained by CFD simulation is represented in Figure
4. As expected, the air which flows near water
surface has a lower temperature that the air which
flows near the asphalt surface (Figure 4). The
presence of the water pond reduces air temperature
by water evaporation.

4 CONCLUSIONS

A numerical model was developed for solar radiation in water pond. This model and the models for solar radiation
and airflow are coupled. Preliminary verification of the coupling of these three models shows that air temperature
and water vapour concentration can be estimated in the urban area. The model can be useful for the analysis of
urban thermal environment since it can provide radiation conditions, air temperature, specific humidity and wind
velocity in urban environment.

Nomenclature
a albedo (-),
C thermal capacity (J K
-1
),
Ce evaporative heat transfer coefficient,
E evaporating flux (Kg m
-2
K
-1
),
HR relative humidity (-),
Lv latent heat of vaporisation (J kg
-1
)
p atmospheric pressure (Pa),
pv partial pressure of water vapour (Pa),
R thermal resistance (K W
-1
),
S surface (m
2
), t times (s)
t, T temperature (C, K),
u wind speed (m s
-1
).
x, y space coordinates,
Greek letters

absorptivity (-),
angle of incidence of direct solar radiation ()
flux density (W m
-2
),
thermal conductivity (W m
-1
K
-1
),
=cos
ext emissivity of external surface (-),
a density of the moist air at 10 meters (kg m
-3
),
Stefan-Boltzmann constant (W m
-2
K
-4
)

Subscripts
a air, asph asphalt,
c contrite,
cond conduction,
conv convection,
evap evaporation,
g ground,
i interior,
ref reference,
s solar,
S surface,
sat saturation,
w water.

References
Akbari, H., Davis, S., Dorsano, S., Huang, J., Winnett, S. (eds.), 1992, Cooling Our Communities: A Guidebook
on Tree Planting and Light-Colored Surfacing, U.S. EPA, Climate Change Division. LBL Rep. No. LBL-31587.
Cengel, Y.A. and zisik, M.N., 1984, Solar radiation absorption in solar ponds, Solar Energy, 33, 581-591.
Givoni, B. and La Roche, P., 2000, Indirect evaporative cooling with an outdoor pond, PLEA 2000, Cambridge,
UK, James&James.
Groleau, D., 2000, SOLENE, Un outil de simulation des clairements solaires et lumineux dans les projets
architecturaux et urbains, In : Colloque Artepa, Rouen, 8p.
Oke, T. R., Spronken-Smith, R. A., et al., 1999, The energy balance of central Mexico City during the dry season,
Atmospheric Environment, 33, 3919-3930.
Vinet, J., Raymond, F. and Inard, C., 2000, Simulated impacts of trees on heat and wind flows in an urban open
space, Third Symposium on the Urban Environment, Davis Ca, American meteorological society.