January 10, 2022

On 10 January 2020, the Singapore Structural Steel Society organized an international symposium on ‘Advances in Steel and Composite Structures’ (http://www.ssss.org.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=78). Steel and composite construction are usually employed in high rise buildings due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, structural efficiency, and robustness. The symposium offered international experts the opportunity to discuss and reveal new knowledge in steel and composite design and construction. Such formal conferences are appropriate as countries continue to find ways to improve methods in constructing better infrastructures.

The MORUSES (Met Office–Reading Urban Surface Exchange Scheme) is an urban canopy parametrisation used in uSINGV (Urban Singapore Variable Resolution Model), the Meteorological Service Singapore’s urban modelling system. It divides the urban city into a 2-dimensional model consisting of roofs and canyons tiles, and calculates surface energy balances within each grid. Although MORUSES is proven effective in London, its effectiveness in a tropical climate has not been studied. Thus, in ‘Application of MORUSES single-layer urban canopy model in a tropical city: Results from Singapore’ (Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 2019), Dr Andrés Simón-Moral (NUS Geography) and his co-authors evaluate MORUSES by its ability to reproduce climate impacts on Singapore’s tropical urban morphology.

In the performance test, the researchers compare observed surface energy values against MORUSES model predictions. Their two research objectives are firstly to examine if the close proximity of industries, high-rise office buildings, and low-rise and high-rise residential areas would affect modelling results, and secondly to determine if vegetation in Singapore’s dense urban cities will affect calculations involving heat and moisture.

Using observational data from radiation and air temperature sensors across the island, the data aimed to represent a range of urban areas throughout Singapore. The data were further narrowed to focus on days with clear and calm conditions to reduce potential errors. MORUSES was then evaluated by its ability to accurately model radiation budgets, sensible and latent heat, air temperature, and the overall impact on urban morphology.

The magnitude of some climate parameters were both over- and under-estimated. For instance, the effective albedo (the amount of light reflected without being absorbed) was measured to be 10 to 20% lower than actual measurements. This is because the tile approach fails to consider the location of each tile within the grid cells. Nonetheless, the researchers argue that MORUSES is generally robust enough to model different urban morphologies. With more accurate input values, MORUSES could potentially be a useful aid for urban planners to explore the impact of climate change on future urban developments.

Read the article here.