ASCE has honored Yoojun Kim, S.M.ASCE, and Youngjib Ham with the 2025 Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize for the paper “Revealing the Impact of Heat Radiation on Construction: A Microclimate Simulation Using Meteorological Data and Geometric Modeling,” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, January 2024.
Heat radiation has not been considered in the past because it is difficult to measure on a construction site with typical weather recorders, especially at the density of measurement required for analysis. The authors have overcome this difficulty by collecting two years' worth of meteorological and geometric data at an actual construction site. Then they went on to develop a temporal series of results with this data for a numerical microclimate simulation model. The output of the simulation model is in degrees of wet bulb globe temperature – which can be measured by an apparatus that senses all four measurement that affect heat hazards for construction workers. This apparatus is currently recommended by the national oceanic and atmosphere administration to assess heat hazards for outdoor workers; thus, it was selected as the output for the simulation model. In analyzing the results, the authors identify substantial differences in heat hazard risk identification between methods that consider heat index only (which does not consider radiant heat) and the wet bulb globe temperature (which does consider radiant heat). A sensitivity analysis identified differences of approximately 25 degrees Celsius in surface temperature or mean radiant temperature between various materials and sun and shade. Such differences are not identified when heat index alone is used.
The Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize recognizes papers whose author describes in detail accomplished works of construction or valuable contributions to construction management and construction engineering.
