Author(s)

R. COCCI GRIFONI, M. F. OTTONE & E. PRENNA

Abstract

Building designers must consider relationships between air-flow patterns and building structure in order to achieve thermal comfort and avoid extreme air movements. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can simultaneously predict air flow, heat transfer and contaminant transportation in and around buildings. The role of CFD in designing buildings for developing countries is demonstrated by creating a thermally comfortable, healthy, energy-efficient building in developing countries (i.e. Buéa, Cameroon and Mkuru, Tanzania). Natural ventilation and other passive strategies were analyzed, as this is the main way to achieve better thermal comfort and reduce energy usage in buildings in tropical climate conditions. The Tomographic ENvironmental Sections (TENS) is a method of exploring a phenomenon through a large number of perspectives. Such methodology does not necessarily imply additional costs in the building’s realization, an important aspect for developing countries. A building design method that supports optimization in the early design stages in countries with severe climate conditions was developed.

Keywords

Africa, comfort, computational fluid dynamics, developing countries, environmental comfort, PMV, predicted mean vote, sustainable architecture environmental thomography, sustainable architecture