In the energy simulation of buildings there has been little focus on their impact on the microclimate; simulation tools have usually dealt either with building or with outdoor simulation, and only recently these aspects are being interconnected. Within this framework, the paper describes a novel simulation workflow developed in the Grasshopper environment, where the Ladybug Tools are used to model the mutual relations amongst urban microclimate, building energy performance and outdoor thermal comfort. With reference to an urban canyon located in Catania, Southern Italy, the workflow – by coupling the indoor and the outdoor thermal field – provides both the dynamic thermal load of the buildings overlooking the canyon and the parameters needed to measure the outdoor comfort perceived by pedestrians. In comparison to other existing approaches, this workflow offers significant flexibility and makes it possible to perform a parametric investigation of the effects of different design solutions on both the indoor and the outdoor environment.

The outdoor Mean Radiant Temperature calculated through the model is compared to on-site measurements performed with a black globe thermometer during two different days in the summer. The comparison suggests good agreement in the shaded areas of the canyon, but a non-negligible overestimation in sunlit areas. These results have driven the authors to a critical insight into the algorithms implanted in the Ladybug Tools, and have helped to highlight some critical issues that will be further investigated in upcoming research.

在建筑物的能源模拟中，很少关注其对微气候的影响；模拟工具通常用于建筑或室外模拟，并且直到最近这些方面才相互关联。在此框架内，本文描述了在Grasshopper环境中开发的新颖的仿真工作流程，其中使用了瓢虫工具来模拟城市小气候，建筑能耗和室外热舒适度之间的相互关系。参考位于意大利南部卡塔尼亚的城市峡谷，通过耦合室内和室外热场，该工作流既提供了俯瞰峡谷的建筑物的动态热负荷，又提供了测量行人感知的室外舒适度所需的参数。与其他现有方法相比，

将通过模型计算出的室外平均辐射温度与在夏季的两天中使用黑球温度计进行的现场测量进行比较。比较表明，在峡谷的阴影区域中一致性良好，但在阳光照射的区域中高估是不可忽略的。这些结果驱使作者对植入瓢虫工具中的算法有关键的了解，并有助于突出一些关键问题，这些问题将在以后的研究中进一步研究。