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Investigation of Thermal Comfort in Heritage Residential Buildings of Khedivial Cairo in Hot Dry Climate: A Case Study

par Ibrahim, Hanan ;Khan, Ahmed Z. ;Serag, Yehya
Référence Doctoral Seminars on Sustainability research in the Built Environment DS2BE (September 7-8 2020: Hasselt)
Publication Non publié, 2020-09-08

Communication à un colloque

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Résumé :

This paper investigates indoor thermal comfort in heritage residential buildings of Khedivial Cairo (a “buffer zone” for the UNESCO Heritage Site of ‘Historic Cairo’) and seeks to validate simulated indoor air temperature predictions in the software program “Designbuilder” (powered by EnergyPlus) version 6.1. through combining field measurements and observations with energy simulations. The studied area is exposed to adaptive reuse strategies for conservation purposes. However, there are limited attempts to improve energy consumption during said reuse projects, especially with the change of climate conditions in Cairo for the last 30 years that lead to depending mainly on electricity as a source of ventilation and cooling systems.The study carried out field measurements of indoor air temperature inside a reference building (one of six reference heritage building typologies in the study area) in summer of 2019 for three weeks. A field survey (observation and questionnaire) was conducted to analyse construction materials, façade features, internal heat gain, and occupancy profiles. A monitoring-based simulation model was created and calibrated with the reference building and the thermal comfort range was evaluated. The results (based on the ASHRAE-55 adaptive comfort model at 90% acceptability limit) show two different scenarios. The first includes only the base case, showing a large thermal discomfort with an annual indoor discomfort percentage of 68.49% from the total hours, and comfort 31.51 %. The second includes the based adaptive behavioural survey scenarios that were deduced from questionnaire analysis in the summer season, with an annual indoor discomfort percentage of 66.85% from the total hours, and comfort 33.15%. A comparison of both scenarios shows only a slight impact on thermal comfort during summer season for the reference case, and no significant impact in winter.