Investigating risk of overheating for school buildings under extreme hot weather conditions

Abstract

Abstract. This study examines the risk of overheating of a school building, under extreme hot weather conditions, in 14 locations in the United Kingdom using the overheating criteria defined in Building Bulletin 101 (BB101). The building was modelled as naturally ventilated, mechanically ventilated and in mixed mode and was simulated both for the current and the projected weather conditions of the 2050s. Under the current weather conditions, results of the simulations show that when naturally ventilated, the school building fulfils the BB101 criteria only in the areas of Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the simulations of the building as mechanically ventilated and in mixed mode, mechanical cooling was provided in order for the building to comply with the overheating criteria. A comparison of the required cooling loads between the two scenarios shows that application of mixed mode ventilation results in less cooling loads.