Improving thermal comfort conditions in K-12 educational buildings in hot and humid climate: a case study in Cucuta, Colombia

Abstract

The school buildings in Colombia are built based on geographical locations and regional construction systems. However, external weather conditions and building design can have a significant impact on the thermal comfort of students, which affects the academic performance and productivity. This paper investigates the thermal comfort performance for an educational building in a hot and humid city in Cucuta, Colombia, built under national guidelines. This school is a concrete structure without mechanical cooling. However, field observation discovered that 82% of the time students experienced thermal discomfort. To investigate causes and provide mitigation strategies, a whole building energy simulation is conducted. Design Builder is used to evaluate the indoor thermal conditions compared to outdoor data collected. ASHRAE 55 adaptative model is used for the evaluation. It is found that 79% of the time the thermal conditions are outside the acceptable range during the year. The effect of mitigation measures i.e., occupancy, roof insulation, and natural ventilation rates are investigated through simulations. It is found that occupancy and natural ventilation rate have a significant impact on the indoor temperature and relative humidity, and thus the thermal comfort. Passive design strategies are proposed in optimizing the school building design to meet ASHARE-55 requirements.