An evaluation on the effect of night ventilation on thermal mass to reduce overheating in future climate scenarios

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of night ventilation on thermal mass benefits, with a view to alleviating the impact of future climate scenarios in terms of overheating.Dynamic thermal simulations were used to analyse the overheating performance of a test room with exposed thermal mass. A range of night ventilation rates were simulated to evaluate their effect on thermal mass behaviour with regard to overheating according to different future climate and emission scenarios for London Islington.The study shows that night ventilation rates of at least 8 acph are needed to provide significant overheating reductions. In the long term, ventilation rates under 10 acph will have little effect, allowing overheating reductions of less than 3% for high emissions scenarios and less than 8% for medium emissions scenarios. Different strategies must be in place if overheating is to be avoided due to warmer outdoor temperatures.