Análise da Zona de Conforto Térmico: calibração do índice de Temperatura Fisiológica Equivalente (PET) em espaços abertos na cidade de Santiago, RS

Abstract

The daily routine of people in their cities has undergone considerable changes regards to major changes in the climate, much of this due to dense urbanization, which causes changes in the local microclimate. The thermal comfort of areas with high circulation of people is not assessed in most cities. There are instruments that validate the analysis of thermal comfort in open areas, which need to be determined individually, taking into account the peculiarities of each municipality and its microclimate. Therefore, the objective of the research was to analyze the thermal comfort zone by calibrating the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) index in open spaces in the city of Santiago/RS. Three points in the city were analyzed: Praça Moisés Viana (Point 1), the first block of Calçadão (Point 2) and Estação do Conhecimento (Point 3), places with a large circulation of people and different environmental compositions, such as buildings, floors and green areas. To determine the thermal comfort ranges, a device consisting of a set of sensors that measure thermal stress, the TGD-4000, was used, which determines variations in globe temperature, dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures, as well as wind speed. Nine hundred and sixty-six questionnaires were applied to the citizens, containing questions about thermal perception and characteristics of the analyzed locations in the four seasons of the year, during the 75 monitoring actions. Through subsequent analysis of the information, it was possible to identify the Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) and the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and determine the thermal comfort ranges existing in each region analyzed in the four seasons, between the years 2023 and 2024. The samples presented a neutrality range for each season of the year, within the upper and lower limits of the range, being in the fall between 15°C and 20.2°C, in the winter between 18.3°C and 23.1°C, in the spring between 19°C and 29.5°C and in the summer season it was between 23.3°C and 32.6°.