Abstract
Focusing on WBGT(Wet Bulb Globe Thermometer Index) according to the LAI(Leaf Area Index) variation of trees, this study verifies the effects of urban shade trees on the outdoor thermal environment. As for methodology, air$.$globe temperature, air humidity and WBGT were measured under three shade trees whose LAIs were 2.1, 4.0 and 8.2 respectively at midday(12:00-13:00) of 14 sunny days from the 4th through the 29th day of September 2003. Those factors were also measured at the unshaded areas and compared with the values of shaded areas. The measured site was paved with interlocking concrete bricks. The measurements were analyzed through the ANCOV A(Analysis of Covariance) and the regression routines of SPSS11 for windows (SPSS Inc., 2001). The major findings were as follows. 1. The direct correlation between WBGT and LAI was very low. On the contrary, the WBGT showed close correlation with air$.$globe temperature and air humidity, and the LAI also showed very close correlation with globe temperature. These results tell that dominant shading effect by the tree is on the screening of direct solar radiation which lower the globe temperature and WBGT consequently. 2. While the average globe temperatures and WBGT at unshadowed area were 40.4$^{\circ}C$ and 26.2$^{\circ}C$ respectively, the former under the shade tree with LAI 2.1, 4.0 and 8.2 were 34.5$^{\circ}C$, 32.6$^{\circ}C$ and 30.2$^{\circ}C$, and the latter were 24.6$^{\circ}C$, 24$^{\circ}C$ and 23.4$^{\circ}C$ respectively. 3. The relationship between LAI(x) and WBGT(y) can be presented with the following equation: y = 24.23+1.53 $e^{-x}$+0.36x $e^{-x}$+0.46 $x^2$ $e^{-x}$ ($R^2$ =.98) =.98)