A model for thermal comfort assessment of naturally ventilated housing in the hot and dry tropical climate
International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation
ISSN: 2398-4708
Article publication date: 21 May 2021
Issue publication date: 8 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
A major challenge faced by West Africa is to find comfortable housing as a result of climate change and population growth. The climatic adaptation of buildings and their indoor environment become an essential condition for maintaining the health and productivity of the occupants. This paper proposes a model to assess the thermal comfort of naturally ventilated buildings in hot and dry climates in Burkina Faso.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed method is an adaptive model which relies on a combination of parameters such as the operative temperature, the new effective temperature and the basic parameters of thermal comfort. It consists in proposing the zones of thermal comfort on the diagram of the humid air for each climatic region.
Findings
A decision-making tool is set up for evaluating the comfort of buildings to better consider the bio-climatic concept through a long-term comfort index. This comfort index is defined and is used to assess the degree of thermal discomfort for various types of housing. Two natural ventilation pilot buildings located in Ouagadougou were considered. The results show that the pilot building whose wall are is made of Earth blocks achieves 26.4% of thermal comfort while the building made of hollow cement block achieves 25.8% of thermal comfort.
Originality/value
The decision-making tool proposed in the present study allow building stakeholders to better and easily design, assess and improve the thermal environment of buildings.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the “German Academic Exchange Service” (DAAD) for supporting this research within the framework of the “In Region Scholarship Programme-2iE Burkina Faso, 2016” and through the grant number 57313342/2016.
Citation
Ouedraogo, A.L.S.-N., Messan, A., Yamegueu, D. and Coulibaly, Y. (2022), "A model for thermal comfort assessment of naturally ventilated housing in the hot and dry tropical climate", International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, Vol. 40 No. 2, pp. 183-201. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBPA-02-2021-0011
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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