Natural ventilation in Beirut residential buildings for extended comfort hours

Abstract

This paper examines the effectiveness of natural ventilation in Beirut for the purpose of extending comfort periods within living and sleeping zones of the residential buildings. A field survey is conducted to estimate the common window opening and degree profiles. A base case model representing a typical residential apartment located in Beirut was then adopted in integrated environmental solutions (IES) software and calibrated by experimentation through monitoring simulated and measured data indoor. The calibrated IES model was used to evaluate typical wall layering and building local materials and their role in improving indoor comfort with natural ventilation. The simulation results showed that an optimal wall configuration of higher insulation and capacitance, comprised of a 5 cm layer of strawboard sandwiched between a 2 cm × 10 cm wall of masonry Hempcrete units, achieved the highest degree of thermal comfort and enhanced comfort in winter season when compared to the base case. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.