Thermal performances of a bioclimatic building in hot and dry tropical climate

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the thermal comfort of a double-walls seven stories bioclimatic building built with local construction materials. First of all, we use a numerical code to investigate the construction materials thermal inertia effects on the optimization of the building envelop. Second, the outer and inner surface temperatures are determined utilizing the TRNSYS code. A system of trap is then design to evacuate during nighttimes, the stored daily heat. The conditioned air thermal load differences between the double and simple walls are also investigated. Similarly, the linear thermal loss coefficients and the thermal bridge losses are computed utilizing respectively the ‘Heat’ software and the Degree Day method. The results show a difference of 6 to 7 oC between the outer and the inner maxima surface temperatures. The computation of the conditioned air thermal load indicates a net energy gain of the order of 5.8 % in the office spaces and 12.1% in the bedrooms, respectively for the double and simple walls. The double-walls thermal bridge losses amount to 16.46 % of the total building losses and 20.77 % for the 20 cm thick simple wall. The building envelop optimisation process continues with the study of the effects of the addition of a garden roof on the thermal comfort.