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3.6. ESTM input files#

3.6.1. SUEWS_ESTMCoefficients.txt#

Note ESTM is under development in this release and should not be used!

The Element Surface Temperature Method (ESTM) [Offerle et al., 2005] calculates the net storage heat flux from surface temperatures. In the method the three-dimensional urban volume is reduced to four 1-d elements (i.e. building roofs, walls, and internal mass and ground (road, vegetation, etc)). The storage heat flux is calculated from the heat conduction through the different elements. For the inside surfaces of the roof and walls, and both surfaces for the internal mass (ceilings/floors, internal walls), the surface temperature of the element is determined by setting the conductive heat transfer out of (in to) the surface equal to the radiative and convective heat losses (gains). Each element (roof, wall, internal element and ground) can have maximum five layers and each layer has three parameters tied to it: thickness (x), thermal conductivity (k), volumetric heat capacity (rhoCp).

If ESTM is used (StorageHeatMethod =4), the files SUEWS_ESTMCoefficients.txt, ESTMinput.nml and SSss_YYYY_ESTM_Ts_data_tt.txt should be prepared.

SUEWS_ESTMCoefficients.txt contains the parameters for the layers of each of the elements (roofs, wall, ground, internal mass).

  • If less than five layers are used, the parameters for unused layers should be set to -999.

  • The ESTM coefficients with the prefix Surf_ must be specified for each surface type (plus snow) but the Wall_ and Internal_ variables apply to the building surfaces only.

  • For each grid, one set of ESTM coefficients must be specified for each surface type; for paved and building surfaces it is possible to specify up to three and five sets of coefficients per grid (e.g. to represent different building materials) using the relevant columns in SUEWS_SiteSelect.txt. For the model to use these columns in site select, the ESTMCode column in SUEWS_NonVeg.txt should be set to zero.

The following input files are required if ESTM is used to calculate the storage heat flux.

3.6.2. ESTMinput.nml#

ESTMinput.nml specifies the model settings and default values.

A sample file of ESTMinput.nml looks like

&ESTMinput
TsurfChoice= 0
evolveTibld= 0      ! !!!!!FO!!!!! 0 originally
ibldCHmod  = 0
LBC_soil   = 13.00             !!FO!! 4, 8 or 17 degC - could be set as the annual mean air temperature (12.8 degC for London)
THEAT_ON   = 18.
THEAT_OFF  = 22.
THEAT_FIX  = 19.
/

Note

The file contents can be in any order.

The parameters and their setting instructions are provided through the links below:

3.6.3. SSss_YYYY_ESTM_Ts_data_tt.txt#

SSss_YYYY_ESTM_Ts_data_tt.txt contains a time-series of input surface temperature for roof, wall, ground and internal elements.

No.

Column Name

Use

Description

1

iy

MU

Year [YYYY]

2

id

MU

Day of year [DOY]

3

it

MU

Hour [H]

4

imin

MU

Minute [M]

5

Tiair

MU

Indoor air temperature [ËšC]

6

Tsurf

MU

Bulk surface temperature [ËšC] (used when TsurfChoice = 0)

7

Troof

MU

Roof surface temperature [ËšC] (used when TsurfChoice = 1 or 2)

8

Troad

MU

Ground surface temperature [ËšC] (used when TsurfChoice = 1 or 2)

9

Twall

MU

Wall surface temperature [ËšC] (used when TsurfChoice = 1)

10

Twall_n

MU

North-facing wall surface temperature [ËšC] (used when TsurfChoice = 2)

11

Twall_e

MU

East-facing wall surface temperature [ËšC] (used when TsurfChoice = 2)

12

Twall_s

MU

South-facing wall surface temperature [ËšC] (used when TsurfChoice = 2)

13

Twall_w

MU

West-facing wall surface temperature [ËšC] (used when TsurfChoice = 2)