Climate Analysis

Shanghai is located in the Yangtze River Delta in East China. Belonging to sub-tropical monsoon climate, it experiences four distinctive seasons with typical hot summer and cold winter.

Fig 1. Climate zones in China

Temperature

The hottest time here comes in July and August, with more than 10 days at the temperature above 35 degree. The coldest time is from late January to early February. Spring and autumn are comfortable for people, around 12 to 20 degree. That is to say, when designing, we should pay attention to outdoor sunshine in summer, and take the advantage of it in winter.

Fig 2. Weekly summary of temperature in Shanghai (By Ecotect)

Rainfall & Humidity

Rainfall in Shanghai is quite abundant, especially in summer; its annual rainfall is around 1187 millimeter. Shanghai's relative humidity keeps high all the year round, which means that damp proof is an important issue that need to be solved.

Fig 3. Weekly summary of relative humidity in Shanghai (By Ecotect)

Fig 4. Average rainfall in Shanghai (Liang & Ding, 2012)

Wind

In spring and summer, dominant wind direction is southeast, the maximum value is about 45 and 35 km/hour respectively. In autumn and winter, northwester is quite strong; the maximum gust reaches almost 50 km/hour.

This city is also susceptible to typhoons in summer and at the beginning of autumn, but none of which in recent years has caused considerable damage. As a result, design a green building should guarantee enough ventilation in southeast direction from March to August, and exclude strong wind in northwest direction from September to February.

Fig 5. Prevailing wind in Shanghai (By Ecotect)

Optimum Orientation

The optimum orientation is 170 Degree north by east. At this degree, solar radiation is relative higher during overheated period, and lower during underheated period. Thus, there is still a need to take some measures for cooling in summer and heating in winter.

Fig 6. Optimum Orientation in Shanghai (By Ecotect)

Fig 7. Solar Radiation in Shanghai (By Ecotect)

Summary

After analyzing the climate of Shanghai by Ecotect, we can summarize its main characteristics:

- Humid subtropical climate with hot muggy summers and thunderstorms.

- Mild winters with precipitation from mid-latitude cyclones.

- The warmest month is above or equal to 22 Degree.

It is important for the designers to design the Shanghai Tower on the basis of Shanghai’s climate. From the psychrometric chart, we can know that in spring and autumn, the relative effective strategies are thermal mass effects, exposed mass + night-purge ventilation and natural ventilation, followed by passive solar heating; in summer, natural ventilation is the most helpful method; in winter, focusing on passive solar heating is quite useful.

Fig 8. Psychrometric chart for Shanghai (By Ecotect)