CORRELAÇÃO ENTRE VARIÁVEIS MICROCLIMÁTICAS E FAIXAS DO UTCI CALIBRADO PARA A CIDADE DE BELO HORIZONTE, MG.

Abstract

The microclimatic conditions of the urban areas can greatly influence the thermal comfort of its users and inhabitants. The evaluation of levels of comfort and thermal discomfort can be performed through the use of calibrated thermal indices for the local population. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), among the existing thermal indices, is applicable to thermal comfort surveys in open spaces. In their calculation and calibration, microclimatic, thermophysiological and psychosocial / cultural factors are integrated, seeking to represent the thermal sensation of a given population A previous field survey, conducted between August 2018 and January 2019 (winter, spring and summer), collected microclimatic, personal and subjective variables with the purpose of calibrating the UTCI to the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. From this data, the objective of this article is to evaluate the influence of the microclimatic variables: Air temperature (Ta), Average radiant temperature (Trm), Relative humidity of the air (RH) and Wind speed 10 meters high (V10m) on the bands of thermal comfort of the calibrated UTCI for the mining capital. For this, univariate models of the microclimatic and multivariate data were used to evaluate the relationship between the microclimatic variables and the calibrated UTCI. For this purpose, the BIOKLIMA software was used to calculate the values of UTCI, and the software "R" and MS Excel. As results, it was verified that there is a significant effect of Ta and Trm on the ranges of "cold discomfort", "comfort" and "heat discomfort" calibrated for Belo Horizonte. On the other hand, the RH showed low effect on the variability of the UTCI and the V10m, with almost no effect. It is concluded that Ta and Trm are extremely important factors for the calculation and calibration of the UTCI. Also, new research needs to be carried out in order to understand the real effects between UR and V10m on the prediction of the thermal sensation by the UTCI index.