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Optimisation of passive ventilation design for public assembly buildings in a tropical climate.

Author(s) : GROENHOUT N., PARTRIDGE L.

Type of article: Article

Summary

Passive ventilation design of public assembly buildings in tropical climates involves significant challenges associated with maintaining comfort in rooms with high occupant density. The diurnal air temperature in tropical climates for most of the year rarely falls outside the range of 25-35ºC and the humidity range is often between 60-100%. Occupant comfort is often reliant on air movement to promote evaporation from the skin. This study was undertaken to determine the relative merits of various building geometries and material types on occupant thermal comfort. The study involved optimising the building material selection to minimise dry resultant (effective) air temperature and modifying the building geometry to maximise air movement across occupants. The material analysis was carried out using dynamic thermal simulation software to determine the most effective fabric combination of walls, floors, ceilings and roofs in order to minimise the daily peak dry resultant temperature. The building geometry analysis was undertaken using computational fluid dynamics to maximise the effect of passive ventilation to provide cooling breezes over occupants. The results demonstrated that internal thermal mass has a place in non-residential tropical architecture and building geometry can be optimised to increase the evaporative cooling effect from the skin of occupants.

Details

  • Original title: Optimisation of passive ventilation design for public assembly buildings in a tropical climate.
  • Record ID : 2010-0213
  • Languages: English
  • Source: EcoLibrium - vol. 9 - n. 1
  • Publication date: 2010/02

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