The Impact of Passive Solar Energy Utilization on Multi-Story Apartment Houses in Hot Dry Climates.

This study seeks to make a contribution to a development of an architecture which, in the past, incorporated an awareness of climatic conditions and energy factors into its basic concepts. Excessive and unnecessary energy consumption by buildings has become a matter of concern and criticism, and architects and other professionals have begun a search for a more acceptable and responsible design ethic. The objectives of this research are to study the thermal behavior of a multi-story, prismatic building and to analyze the impact of various building parameters on this behavior. The building used is representative of residential buildings encountered in hot, dry parts of the world and conforms to the design and construction practices that prevail in such areas. A computer simulation model (BLAST) is employed to describe the building's thermal behavior on an hour-by-hour basis. The model is used to assess the impact of various passive building parameters on the temperature of each interior zone. The simulation is divided into three phases. The first entails simulating the housing prototype as it exists. The second is a parametric evaluation of individual building features. It includes studying the contribution of each of the building parameters/strategies under consideration. The third phase of the investigation involves combinations of features instead of individual features for the study of their thermal interaction. Data analysis indicates that natural ventilation and thermal mass are most critical in determining the interior thermal environment of a building in the hot, dry zone. In addition, a method is developed to denote the performance of a parameter by a single dimensionless index which represents the "thermal flow" to be induced in order to attain thermal comfort. Hence, a procedure can be formulated by which passive building parameters can be prioritized on the basis of their contribution to the energy budget of a building in terms of the energy savings that can be realized. Included in the study is a historical review of passive solar applications in buildings and a thorough discussion of the comfort requirements in hot, dry regions. Findings of the study are outlined and recommendations for future research are presented. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)PhDArchitectureUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161344/1/8712051.pd