Night ventilation at courtyard housing estate in warm humid tropic for sustainable environment

Abstract

The problem in the night-time for warm humid tropic housing estate is thermal discomfort. Heat gains accumulation from building envelope, internal heat gains and activities of occupants influence indoor thermal comfort. Ventilation is needed for transfer or removes heat gains accumulation to outdoor. This study describes the role of an inner courtyard to promote pressure difference. Pressure difference as a wind driven force to promote wind velocity thereby could transfer indoor heat gains accumulation to outdoor of building. A simulation used as the research method for prediction wind velocity. Purposive sampling used as the method to choose building sample with similar inner courtyards. The field survey was conducted to obtain data of inner courtyard typologies and two housing were used as model simulation. Furthermore, the simulation is running in steady state mode, at 05.00 pm when the occupants usually close window. But the window should be opened in the night-time to transfer indoor heat gain to outdoor. The result shows that the factor influencing physiological cooling as consequences of inner courtyard are height to width ratio, the distance between inner courtyard to windward, window configuration and the inner courtyard design-the proportion between the length, the width, and the height.