Thermal Performance Analysis of Courtyards in a Hot Humid Climate Using Computational Fluid Dynamics CFD Method

AbstractComputational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been applied in many researches in order to investigate the ventilation in buildings. However, researches on natural ventilation inside courtyard using CFD techniques are rare. Courtyard aspect ratio and cantilevered roof are selected for investigation using CFD in IES<VE> software. Wind and air temperature was obtained and thus, the thermal comfort is evaluated by the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) index. Results show that aspect ratio and cantilevered roof plays a significant effect on the wind speed and, consequently, the thermal comfort. The (1:2) plan aspect ratio performs better than the (1:1) plan aspect ratio