Numerical assessment of night ventilation impact on the thermal comfort of vernacular buildings

Night ventilation, is one of the most effective passive cooling techniques that may contribute to the improvement of the occupants thermal comfort conditions. Despite the justified effectiveness of night ventilation, few studies quantified its influence on the thermal comfort of vernacular buildings, especially under warm dominant climates. The aim of this study is the investigation of the impact of night ventilation on the thermal comfort of vernacular buildings under summer dominant environmental conditions. The subjects under investigation was one traditional buildings in the city of Nicosia in Cyprus. In terms of this study numerical analysis regarding the thermal comfort of the investigated buildings was performed by employing Energy Plus and the flow solver of Design Builder. The indoor operative temperature distribution, the indoor air velocity and a thermal comfort related index were identified in selected thermal zones of the examined building using night ventilation. The results of this study quantified the potential temperature decrease that can result on vernacular buildings due to the use of night ventilation and revealed some restrictions with regard to the allowed percentage of the opening sizes towards achieving optimal thermal conditions in space. This study aspires to provide useful insight regarding the importance of humans’ behavior in terms of enabling night ventilation to vernacular buildings, as well as to con-tribute to the ongoing scientific discussion on this subject. © 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.