Ninth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

Due to the high investment costs and long payback period in energy efficiency projects of buildings, careful evaluation is essential before implementing strategies for reducing energy consumption. Saving fossil energy and using clean energy sources for reducing the operating costs of building, protecting the environment and people’s health are goals. Natural ventilation is one of the factors that affects thermal comfort. This feature by utilizing air drafts, decreasing relative humidity, and increasing surface evaporation causes mild climate and comfort conditions in the humid and temperate climates. This paper is organized to discuss three models of openings with OKB = 70 cm, OKB = 90 cm and OKB = 110 cm in Rasht city, using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) of Design Builder software and experimental studies in order to determine the validity of climate models and to compare and examine the air draft rate between the models. These three heights were chosen because they are the most common dimensions applied in residential buildings. The results demonstrate that the air drafts in OKB = 90 and 110cm are increased to reach a constant rate and thermal comfort is increased by the same amount.