Inward and Outward Opening Properties of One-Sided Windcatchers: Experimental and Analytical Evaluation

Abstract

Vernacular measures, such as courtyard, wind catcher “Malqaf”, wooden lattice “Mashrabia”, and lantern—which can help buildings to depend on natural energy from the sun and the wind—have started to be abandoned in the last decades. However, wind pressure and stack effects are becoming more popular in modern buildings design and the primary method in most domestic buildings to achieve the desired cross ventilation and minimize the air temperature to reach the required cooling loads. This paper aims to revive one of the vernacular measures “the windcatcher”, quantifying the effectiveness of the inward/outward opening properties on the air temperature and airflow inside the buildings. Analytical literature review, context analysis, and numerical simulations are performed. The computer fluid dynamics (CFD) is utilized to simulate both the temperature distribution and the flow field within the windcatcher model. Simulations are carried out in the fluent environment, which uses the control volume method for solving the conservation law. The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and energy equation with the realizable k-ϵ turbulent model are employed. The research uses a parametric analysis to test different scenarios of windcatcher designs in terms of dimensions, proportions, and opening ratios. The results of this study confirm that windcatcher has a significant effect in lowering the air temperature inside the different floors. However, it is recommended to use a wind-catcher for not more than two floors, increase the area of the outward opening to 200% relative to the inward opening and apply side opening in the upper floors.