Numerical study of thermal comfort in buildings designed with local building materials in humid tropical climate zones

Abstract

Bioclimatic building, which consumes less energy, appears to be the answer both to reduce electricity consumption for air conditioning and lighting and to protect the environment. Nowadays, it is essential to develop construction systems based on locally available building materials in the design of building walls and roofs. This study aims to promote the construction of energy-efficient housing using environmentally friendly local materials and provide thermal comfort for occupants.  A comparative study of thermal comfort achieved in buildings designed based on the combination of various local building materials in the wall and lightweight roof envelopes is carried out by numerical investigation.  Energy equations written by the nodal method on the walls and roof, discretized by the finite difference method, are solved by the iterative Gauss-Seidel method. The indoor air temperatures of the different building types are simulated and the thermal responses of the envelopes are analyzed. The results presented in terms of thermal comfort in buildings constructed using the proposed local materials show that Typha is a naturally insulating material which offers excellent protection against the heat in hot or cold periods in the building. The introduction of insulation plant fibre reduces significantly to 6°C the temperature inside the building.