Effect of opening on environmental conditions of a naturally ventilated stable in Thailand

Abstract

Horses and human beings share the space in horse stables hence suitable environmental qualities need to be ensured for both species. This paper explores building features that can help achieve desirable conditions in a stable during the working hours in summer. The researchers surveyed a horse stable in Bangkok and attempted to improve its building features. The base case stable and improvement cases were assessed using a CFD program, which was verified with a similar building in the other previous studies and validated with on-site measurements. The results revealed that the base case has low indoor air velocities (Cv = 0.20), uniformity (Csv = 0.37) and low percentages of area in desirable conditions. Improving the base case by adding large openings increases the indoor air velocities in the stalls to twice as much (Cv = 0.40), improves the uniformity (Csv = 0.27) and brings the environment into better conditions for horses and human beings. Reducing the wall height does not significantly increases the indoor air velocities but improves the uniformity. Additional low-energy mechanical systems are necessary to help improve comfort conditions for horses and human beings. A set of design and operation guidelines for a new stable building was developed from the results of the study.