Abstract
Traditionally, buildings in the Inner Himalayan valleys of Bhutan were constructed from rammed earth in the western regions and quarry stone in the central and eastern regions. Whilst basic architectural design elements have been retained, the construction methods have however changed over recent decades alongside expectations for indoor thermal comfort. Nevertheless, despite the need for space heating, thermal building performance remains largely unknown. Furthermore, no dedicated climate data is available for building performance assessments. This paper establishes such climatological information for the capital Thimphu and presents an investigation of building physics properties of traditional and contemporary building types. In a one month field study 10 buildings were surveyed, looking at building air tightness, indoor climate, wall U-values and water absorption of typical wall construction materials. The findings highlight comparably high wall U-values of 1.0 to 1.5W/m²K for both current and historic constructions. Furthermore, air tightness tests show that, due to poorly sealed joints between construction elements, windows and doors, many buildings have high infiltration rates, reaching up to 5 air changes per hour. However, the results also indicate an indoor climate moderating effect of more traditional earth construction techniques. Based on these survey findings basic improvements are being suggested.
Highlights
Situated in the Eastern Himalayas the Kingdom of Bhutan is characterised by three distinct climates: the alpine conditions of the High Himalayas to the North, the more temperate highland climate of the Inner Himalayas in the centre of the country and humid subtropical conditions to the South (Dujardin, 1994)
Ww * sd [kg/(m*h0.5)] ≤ 0.2 companies. Alongside this the main construction systems and construction materials have changed from buildings constructed with earth, quarry stone and timber to reinforced concrete fame constructions with brick infill walls. This type of construction in its present form was found to have a limited suitability for the climate of the Inner Himalayan region of Bhutan, which is characterised by dry, sunny winters and a comparably large diurnal temperature swing throughout the year
The initial study of building physics properties of a range of construction types in the Thimphu valley area of Bhutan presented in this paper highlights that both, current and traditional construction methods come with limitations with respect to providing comfortable indoor climate conditions for the occupants and have some risks as per climate induced structural damages
Summary
Situated in the Eastern Himalayas the Kingdom of Bhutan is characterised by three distinct climates: the alpine conditions of the High Himalayas to the North, the more temperate highland climate of the Inner Himalayas in the centre of the country and humid subtropical conditions to the South (Dujardin, 1994). Up to the late 1950s/early 1960s when the country started opening up economically to the outside world, the Bhutanese society was essentially a rural subsistence economy engaged in the sectors agriculture, forestry and livestock (Ura, 1994) This reflected in the way settlements were laid out and buildings were constructed. Depending on topography and the availability of arable land, dispersed settlements of isolated farmsteads were common (DoWHR, 1993). Whilst these village layouts are still to be found today in the majority of valleys in the Inner Himalayan region of Bhutan, new urban settlements no longer follow this pattern (Walcott, 2009). The capital city Thimphu for example covers large parts of the Thimphu valley, replacing the farmland that was previously present there
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