Living wall water balance model for smart irrigation

Zavrl, Eva (author), Žižak, Tej (author), Domjan, Suzana (author), Poredoš, Primož (author), Medved, Sašo (author), Arkar, Ciril (author)

The impacts of climate change are especially evident in urban settings, manifesting through the urban heat island effect. This phenomenon is exacerbated by the rising density of built-up areas forming street canyons, which leads to a decrease in green spaces and an increase in the heat capacity of the built environment. The urban areas such as cities need to become heat-resilient which can be achieved with implementation of climate adaptive building design. Green building envelopes, such as green roofs or living walls (LWs), are particularly interesting to researchers and building designers due to their numerous environmental benefits (such as acting as a sink for CO2 and other pollutants, noise reduction, mitigation of the urban heat island effect, retention of rainwater runoff, and enhancement of biodiversity). They also improve microclimatic conditions and living comfort in cities. In many cities, particularly in hot climates or during heatwaves, water availability becomes a significant issue. Therefore, the hypothesis is that the demand for irrigation water can be minimized by utilizing smart irrigation system that originates from weather forecasts. There is a lack of research focused on accurately assessing the thermal and hydrological responses of LWs. Consequently, this study experimentally investigates a modular LW with lightweight mineral wool substrate and as a novelty proposes a detailed water balance model with the emphasis on evapotranspiration modeling, which crucially affects the irrigation demand. The measurements of evapotranspiration rates of LW module with weighing method are used for calibration of evapotranspiration model. The measured parameters of LW water balance (irrigation, rainfall, water saturation ratio in substrate and runoff) are used for validation of empirical evapotranspiration model which is based on meteorological data (ambient air temperature and humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and precipitation amount). The study concludes that by using this model, the irrigation demand decreases.

• Language: English
• Keywords: living wall, water balance model, smart irrigation, smart irrigation with rain forecast
• Work type: Other
• Typology: 1.16 - Independent Scientific Component Part or a Chapter in a Monograph
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 683-691
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180472
• UDC: 502.131.1:620.9
• DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17643071
• COBISS.SI-ID: 270946563
• Publication date in RUL: 10.03.2026

Record is a part of a monograph

• Title: Comfort at the extremes : investing in well-being in a challenging future
• Editors: Jesica Fernandez-Aguera, Samuel Domínguez-Amarillo, Susan Roaf
• Place of publishing: Seville
• Publisher: Ecohouse Initiative
• Year: 2024
• ISBN: 978-1-9161876-8-9
• COBISS.SI-ID: 270935299

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: zelene stene, model vodne bilance, pametno namakanje, pametno namakanje z napovedjo padavin