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Copyright 2012 Priyanka Padmanabhan Nayar
IMPROVING THERMAL COMFORT IN RESIDENTIAL SPACES IN THE WET TROPICAL CLIMATE ZONES OF INDIA USING PASSIVE COOLING TECHNIQUES: A STUDY USING COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN METHODS
by
Priyanka Padmanabhan Nayar
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF BUILDING SCIENCE
December 2012
Object Description
| Title | Improving thermal comfort in residential spaces in the wet tropical climate zones of India using passive cooling techniques: a study using computational design methods |
| Author | Padmanabhan Nayar, Priyanka |
| Author email | priyanka.pnayar@gmail.com;priyanka.pnayar@gmail.com |
| Degree | Master of Building Science |
| Document type | Thesis |
| Degree program | Building Science |
| School | School of Architecture |
| Date defended/completed | 2012-05-09 |
| Date submitted | 2012-08-02 |
| Date approved | 2012-08-02 |
| Restricted until | 2012-08-02 |
| Date published | 2012-08-02 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Woll, Edward |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Simmonds, Peter La Roche, Pablo |
| Abstract | Kerala, the strip of land on the southwest coast of India, falls under the category of wet tropical climatic zone. Though traditional architecture and construction practices of Kerala were well known for the use of natural and passive methods for developing a comfortable thermal environment inside enclosed spaces, the modern construction methods and materials are not successful in creating a comfortable indoor environment, mostly due of the lack of understanding of how these elements interact with each other. This motivated the need of a scientific study for improving thermal comfort with minimal mechanical intervention. This study aimed to investigate the factors (such as temperature, humidity and air movement) that characterize thermal comfort in a particular house in Kerala and to identify and suggest some modifications (in architecture, construction materials etc.) to improve the thermal comfort inside the house. The study also attempts to develop some general guidelines for improving thermal comfort using passive cooling techniques in residences in wet tropical climate zones of India. ❧ A study on thermal comfort indices was first made in order to define the thermal comfort range appropriate for this climate (to mark in the psychrometric chart). As the next step, the temperature and humidity data was collected from a modern residence in Kerala for a year and this was used to understand the thermal conditions of the house. The building was simulated in the energy calculation software Design Builder, and was calibrated against the measured data. From a chosen list of passive cooling strategies, each one was applied to the base model by systematically varying some parameters (e.g., construction materials, type of roof etc.) that affect the thermal comfort while keeping others constant, and the changes in the thermal comfort indexes (e.g., interior temperature and humidity) are calculated. The effect of each strategy was evaluated from the fraction of time the building is in the comfort zone when the strategy was applied. The three most effective passive cooling strategies for the climate was found to be: 1) cross ventilating the space, 2) provision of openings near the ceiling, 3) different variations of providing shading to the building roof. The end result is a tabulated list of all passive cooling strategies tested, in the order of their effectiveness on the thermal comfort in the building. |
| Keyword | thermal comfort; passive cooling strategies; effectiveness of passive cooling; Kerala; India; hot humid climate; psychrometric chart |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Padmanabhan Nayar, Priyanka |
| Physical access | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume4/etd-Padmanabha-1121.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@dots.usc.edu |
| Full text | Copyright 2012 Priyanka Padmanabhan Nayar IMPROVING THERMAL COMFORT IN RESIDENTIAL SPACES IN THE WET TROPICAL CLIMATE ZONES OF INDIA USING PASSIVE COOLING TECHNIQUES: A STUDY USING COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN METHODS by Priyanka Padmanabhan Nayar A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF BUILDING SCIENCE December 2012 |
