Evaluating the impact of pavement reflectance and aspect ratio on thermal conditions in a scale model of a street canyon: introducing PAVSCAM

Aim of the study is to analyze the effect of pavement reflectance and aspect ratio on air and surface temperature reductions in a scale model of an urban canyon. The model, named PAVSCAM (PAVement and Street CAnyon Model), consists of two sets of four lanes disposed between concrete blocks, with 5 m in length and 1.2 m in width, which are covered with different paving materials. Hollow concrete blocks serve as ‘buildings’ whereas the lanes are regarded as ‘streets’. Two sets of lanes are used for testing H/W ratios of 0.33 and 0.66, for block heights of 40 cm and 80 cm, respectively. Interlocking, semi-permeable concrete paver blocks were tested, in light and dark gray, against asphalt used as a reference. Thermocouples were used to assess air and surface temperature at canyon height and on the ground, respectively along with the air temperature measured at “pedestrian height”. Results allowed us to infer on the interplay of thermal properties, aspect ratios, and surface reflectance, observed in measured data, and the impact of shading during two monitoring rounds in spring at a tropical location (at 22°17'00”S, 47°07'00”W) characterized by a Koeppen-Geiger’s Aw climate classification. PAVSCAM proved to be effective in studying microclimate phenomena in a simplified and cost-effective manner.