Simplified thermal analysis of naturally ventilated dwellings

Abstract

A simplified comprehensive methodology for thermal comfort prediction in a naturally crossventilated room is described. The methodology mainly consists of the following three steps: • - analysis of the dynamic thermal behaviour of the given room, by means of the admittance procedure; • - evaluation of the air flows rates and their velocities in the room, by means of a new simplified method; • - thermal comfort prediction by means of the Fanger's theory. The results obtained appear satisfactory and the simplified methodology makes itself a useful tool for the identification of appropriate choices at the early stages of the design process, regarding naturally ventilated buildings. Therma comfort conditions, referred to global comfort situations, for people living inside the dwellings are especially taken into account. Through the paper, a validation against experimental data is presented, with respect to the inside air velocity. Moreover, the simplified procedure here introduced and based on the admittance method, is compared with a more sophisticated simulation model, developed following the finite difference theory, for various buildings driven by the climatic data of Rome.