Modeling and investigating the effect of parasol installation on solar radiant temperature reduction using COMSOL Multiphysics

Abstract

Objectives. Occupational activities in open spaces can experience excessive heat exposure caused by sunlight and other artificial sources in these professional environments can be one of the current and future challenges of occupational safety and health due to increasing global warming. Use of lightweight portable parasols is the first available control measure to reduce the radiation emitted by the sun in outdoor workplaces, which has been used for a long time. Methods. Due to the lack of study and results on the effect of using parasols in scientific literature, this modeling study was conducted to investigate the effect of sunshade installation on radiant temperature reduction of the sun in outdoor work using COMSOL Multiphysics version 5.5. Results. In general, six different shapes of portable parasols in different positions were modeled and the average radiant temperature reduction effectiveness (TRE) was about 30% in the presence of different parasols. The designed conical, simple and pyramidal sunshades showed the most effectiveness, respectively. Conclusions. The results show that changing variables such as the axis, installation height and shape is more effective for improving parasol efficiency to reduce the radiant temperature below it.

Keywords:

• heat exposure
• COMSOL
• parasol
• effect
• modeling
• sun radiant temperature

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.