Abstract
Located on the east side of China’s Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is the Western Sichuan Plateau, the courtyard adopts a passive design to withstand the harsh climate in cold areas, and its internal thermal environment has a direct impact on the productivity and activities of the residents. This paper takes a plateau village (3500 m above sea level) beside the Sichuan–Tibet line as the research area, and selects four typical local courtyard layouts and an outdoor reference point for the measurement and comparison of the thermal environment. By comparing the measured parameters inside and outside the courtyard, and the correlation analysis, it was deduced as follows. (1) In the cold winter, traditional plateau residential courtyards can create a stable internal micro-climate, but the cold resistance of the courtyards is closely related to its layout. (2) Except for wind speed, other thermal environment parameters of the courtyard are all affected by solar radiation (3) The correlation analysis of the various environmental parameters and physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) showed that the correlation coefficient between the mean radiation temperature (Tmrt) and all courtyard PET values is <0.0001, showing a significant correlation. The indicators of mean temperature radiation are mainly affected by the temperature and the wind speed; furthermore, the temperature and solar radiation are positively correlated, which confirms that the solar radiation and wind speed within the courtyard are the main factors affecting the internal thermal environment in the courtyard. (4) Feedback the courtyard layout problems through the difference in the thermal environment parameters within different courtyards, and then determine some shortcomings in the current courtyard layout design. The inferences drawn from this work will provide a scientific basis for the design, layout, and construction of courtyards in other cold plateau areas.
Highlights
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralRapid global socio-economic growth has resulted in many studies focused on the subject of how to meet the energy requirements of global urbanization
The design strategy of residential courtyards can effectively improve the utilization of energy and help reduce energy consumption, which is an effective strategy in compliance with global sustainable development [1]
The average temperature is below 10 ◦ C for about half of the year, and the cold winter climate lasts for a long time; this study on the thermal environment of the courtyard was conducted during the winter season
Summary
Rapid global socio-economic growth has resulted in many studies focused on the subject of how to meet the energy requirements of global urbanization. Lili Zhang and others found that the locally-built stone houses can account for temperature differences of about 24 ◦ C between indoor and outdoor during the day based on the summer thermal environment survey on the Northwest Sichuan plateau [17]. This shows that the locally built stone buildings can adapt effectively to the climate of the area. This study uses two field measurement procedures and statistical data analysis to study the thermal environment of the courtyard in cold plateau areas This method has been proven to be reliable in outdoor thermal environment research [19]. Actionable recommendations were proposed based on the influencing environmental factors and the layout of the courtyard design
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