Tip

1. Need help? Please let us know in the SUEWS Community.

2. Please report issues with the manual on GitHub Issues (or use Report Issue for This Page for page-specific feedback).

3. Please cite SUEWS with proper information from our Zenodo page.

4.3.4. Buildings

Properties for building surfaces including roofs and walls.

Building surfaces are complex urban elements that interact with radiation, store heat, and influence local wind patterns. They include both roof and wall components with distinct thermal and radiative properties.

Parameters:

sfr

Surface fraction of grid area covered by this surface type

Unit:

dimensionless

Example:

0.14285714285714285

emis

Surface emissivity for longwave radiation

Unit:

dimensionless

Example:

0.95

ohm_threshsw

Summer/winter threshold based on temperature for OHM calculation

Unit:

degC

Example:

0.0

ohm_threshwd

Soil moisture threshold determining whether wet/dry OHM coefficients are applied

Unit:

dimensionless

Example:

0.0

ohm_coef

The ohm_coef parameter group is defined by the Seasonal/Wetness OHM Coefficients structure.

soildepth

Depth of soil layer below surface for hydrological calculations, controlling sub-surface water storage and drainage processes. Site-specific value typically determined from soil surveys or borehole data

Unit:

mm

Default:

None (optional)

soilstorecap

Maximum water storage capacity of soil layer, representing total water holding capacity between field capacity and wilting point. Site-specific value dependent on soil texture, structure, and depth

Unit:

mm

Default:

None (optional)

statelimit

Minimum water storage capacity for state change

Unit:

mm

Example:

10.0

wetthresh

Surface wetness threshold for OHM calculations

Unit:

dimensionless

Example:

0.5

sathydraulicconduct

Saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil layer, controlling water drainage rate through fully saturated soil. Site-specific value determined from soil texture (higher for sandy, lower for clay); typically measured via laboratory or field infiltration tests

Unit:

mm s^-1

Default:

None (optional)

soildensity

Bulk soil density

Unit:

g cm^-3

Default:

None (optional)

waterdist

The waterdist parameter group is defined by the Water Distribution structure.

storedrainprm

Storage and drain parameters

The storedrainprm parameter group is defined by the Drainage Parameters structure.

snowpacklimit

Limit of snow that can be held on surface

Unit:

mm

Example:

10.0

thermal_layers

Thermal layers for the surface

The thermal_layers parameter group is defined by the Thermal Layers structure.

irrfrac

Fraction of surface area that can be irrigated

Unit:

dimensionless

Example:

0.0

ref

The ref parameter group is defined by the Reference Info structure.

alb

Surface albedo

Unit:

dimensionless

Example:

0.1

faibldg

Frontal area index of buildings

Unit:

dimensionless

Default:

None (optional)

bldgh

Building height

Unit:

m

Default:

None (optional)