Thermo-radiative simulation of an urban district with LASER/F

The thermo-radiative model LASER/F aims at computing the energy balance of a district. The components of the urban fabric are represented in vectorial 3D and the scene is fragmented into small elementary triangular facets of a few square meters. The physical processes related to the energy balance are solved for each facet. The operational framework of the model is briefly presented in this paper, as well as the numerical procedures and the physical concepts used for the different types of urban elements. The energy balance of a neighborhood of Strasbourg (France) is then simulated. The results are compared with experimental field measurements and the model accuracy is evaluated with a complete set of statistical indices. The model obtains globally a good level of performance for almost all variables, except the latent heat flux.