Trees as a Shading System for Streets on the East-West Axis: Computer Simulations for the Selected Geometrical Proportions of Building Developments in Humid Continental Climate

Abstract

The study is aimed at investigating the possibilities for solar protection provided to the street canyon located on the E-W axis and with the following profiles: shallow (height/width (H/W) = 0.2, 0.6, and 1) and deep (H/W = 2) by two rows of trees located at a distance of 3 m away from southern and northern façades. The research was based on numerical simulation analyses conducted in the Rhinoceros ® program, with the application of the Ladybug Tools environmental plugin for a street set in the city of Paock (52°32 0 50"N 19°42 0 00"E) for the day characterized with the highest total intensity of insolation within the year, 7 June, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The research yielded no differences in terms of shading the surface of the southern façade of streets with low, medium, and high building developments. However, slight differences (40 m 2) were noted for the model with highrise building developments (h = 60 m) characterized with a deep section (H/W = 2). The simulation also revealed that the H/W ratio parameter only slightly (0.88%-1.93%) affected the share trees have in shading the street floor, except in the case of very shallow profiles (H/W = 0.2).