Numerical Analysis of the Effects of Windows with Heat Ray Retro-reflective Film on the Outdoor Thermal Environment within a Two-dimensional Square Cavity-type Street Canyon

This study aimed to investigate the effects of installing windows with heat ray retro-reflective film for their impact on thermal environments within two-dimensional square cavity-type street canyons. The numerical analysis was conducted under the meteorological conditions of a particular hot summer in Tokyo using a computational method proposed by the present authors. The computational method was based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis coupled with radiant computation, unsteady heat conduct computation, and human thermoregulation computation for pedestrians. Two different types of windows installed in the western building surface were compared: (1) single float glass with a heat ray retro-reflective film, and (2) single float glass with heat shading film. Through comparison, it was clarified that adopting the heat ray retro-reflective film on the building surface improved the radiant and the outdoor thermal environment during the summer.