Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries

The aim of this work was to determine the ventilation and cooling potential of a passive cooling windcatcher operating under hot climatic conditions by replicating the monthly wind velocity, wind direction, temperature and relative humidity (RH) observed in a hot-desert city. The city of Ras-Al-Khai...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Calautit, John Kaiser, Hughes, Ben Richard, Nasir, Diana S.N.M.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46446/
_version_ 1848797328357457920
author Calautit, John Kaiser
Hughes, Ben Richard
Nasir, Diana S.N.M.
author_facet Calautit, John Kaiser
Hughes, Ben Richard
Nasir, Diana S.N.M.
author_sort Calautit, John Kaiser
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The aim of this work was to determine the ventilation and cooling potential of a passive cooling windcatcher operating under hot climatic conditions by replicating the monthly wind velocity, wind direction, temperature and relative humidity (RH) observed in a hot-desert city. The city of Ras-Al-Khaimah (RAK), UAE was used as the location of the case-study and available climatic data was used as inlet boundary conditions for the numerical analysis. The study employed the CFD code FLUENT 14.5 with the standard k–ε model to conduct the steady-state RANS simulation. The windcatcher model was incorporated to a 3 × 3 × 3 m3 test room model, which was identical to the one used in the field test. Unlike most numerical simulation of windcatchers, the work will simulate wind flows found in sub-urban environment. The numerical model provided detailed analysis of the pressure, airflow and temperature distributions inside the windcatcher and test room model. Temperature and velocity profiles indicated an induced, cooler airflow inside the room; outside air was cooled from 38 °C to 26–28 °C, while the average induced airflow speed was 0.59 m/s (15% lower compared to a windcatcher w/out heat pipes). Field testing measurements were carried out in the Jazira Hamra area of RAK during the month of September. The test demonstrated the positive effect of the integration of heat pipes on the cooling performance but also highlighted several issues. The comparison between the measured and predicted supply temperatures were in good agreement, with an average error of 3.15%.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:02:08Z
format Article
id nottingham-46446
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:02:08Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Elsevier
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-464462020-05-04T17:50:42Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46446/ Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries Calautit, John Kaiser Hughes, Ben Richard Nasir, Diana S.N.M. The aim of this work was to determine the ventilation and cooling potential of a passive cooling windcatcher operating under hot climatic conditions by replicating the monthly wind velocity, wind direction, temperature and relative humidity (RH) observed in a hot-desert city. The city of Ras-Al-Khaimah (RAK), UAE was used as the location of the case-study and available climatic data was used as inlet boundary conditions for the numerical analysis. The study employed the CFD code FLUENT 14.5 with the standard k–ε model to conduct the steady-state RANS simulation. The windcatcher model was incorporated to a 3 × 3 × 3 m3 test room model, which was identical to the one used in the field test. Unlike most numerical simulation of windcatchers, the work will simulate wind flows found in sub-urban environment. The numerical model provided detailed analysis of the pressure, airflow and temperature distributions inside the windcatcher and test room model. Temperature and velocity profiles indicated an induced, cooler airflow inside the room; outside air was cooled from 38 °C to 26–28 °C, while the average induced airflow speed was 0.59 m/s (15% lower compared to a windcatcher w/out heat pipes). Field testing measurements were carried out in the Jazira Hamra area of RAK during the month of September. The test demonstrated the positive effect of the integration of heat pipes on the cooling performance but also highlighted several issues. The comparison between the measured and predicted supply temperatures were in good agreement, with an average error of 3.15%. Elsevier 2016-05-24 Article PeerReviewed Calautit, John Kaiser, Hughes, Ben Richard and Nasir, Diana S.N.M. (2016) Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries. Applied Energy, 186 . pp. 321-335. ISSN 0306-2619 Building Computational modelling Field testing Heat pipe Natural ventilation http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916306900 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.096 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.096
spellingShingle Building
Computational modelling
Field testing
Heat pipe
Natural ventilation
Calautit, John Kaiser
Hughes, Ben Richard
Nasir, Diana S.N.M.
Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries
title Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries
title_full Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries
title_fullStr Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries
title_full_unstemmed Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries
title_short Climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries
title_sort climatic analysis of a passive cooling technology for the built environment in hot countries
topic Building
Computational modelling
Field testing
Heat pipe
Natural ventilation
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46446/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46446/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46446/