International Conference on Green Architecture (ICGrA 2018)

Assessing the Effects of Opening Positions in Facade on Thermal

Comfort : A case study of the UAP Architecture Building Extension.
Ar. Muhtadin Iqbal and Ar. Nazli Hussain
1Departmet of Architecture, University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka , Bangladesh. E-Mail: muhtadin@uap-bd.edu
2Praxis Architects, Dhaka, Bangladesh, E-Mail: ar_nazli_7@yahoo.com

Abstract: Thermal Comfort of a built environment is a subjective issue that depends on a myriad of elements. It is
dependent on climatic factors and designed factors which are closely interrelated. In a tropical climate like
Bangladesh the thermal comfort level of a place is largely dependent on the solar radiation and wind flow, which
have diametric opposite requirement in the design of the spatial configuration, opening and the envelope of the
building . When a room is protected from direct solar radiation, the chance of unobstructed ventilation is reduced.
On the other hand, opening for cross ventilation increases the solar penetration which increases the indoor
temperature. The study investigates, which is more dominant among temperature and wind flow in influencing
thermal comfort by assessing the opening configurations of a single building in a tropical climate.

Keywords: Thermal Comfort, Solar Radiation, Wind Flow, Opening Configurations.

1. Introduction tropical climate the widely practiced norm is to

The quality of human life, to a very large extent
depends on the quality of their indoor
environments. Activities of human being can only
be performed best when the environmental
conditions are favourable within building
enclosures. People show physiological reaction
and psychological responses to the indoor climate
that they are part of. Indoor temperature plays a
significant role in the thermal comfort, which in
turn impacts the human performance at both
mental and physical levels [1]. Thermal comfort is
achievable when temperature is under control.
Szokolay (2004) underlines three sets of variables
that affect thermal comfort. These are
environmental variable, personal variable and
contributing factors. Air temperature is the
dominant environmental factor, as it determines
convective heat dissipation. Air movement
accelerates convection, but it also changes the
skin and clothing surface heat transfer coefficient
(reduces surface resistance), as well as increases
evaporation from the skin, thus producing a
physiological cooling effect [2]. For a building in
provide ample openings to permit the wind flow.
Opening for cross ventilation increases the solar
penetration which increases the indoor
temperature On the other hand, when a room is
protected from direct solar radiation, the chance
of unobstructed ventilation is reduced.. This poses
a dilemma for the designer to provide openings in
a facade.
The study investigates which is more dominant of
the two, temperature or wind flow in influencing
thermal comfort. For this purpose an existing
building needed to be studied in terms of its
physical characters and environmental
performance. By doing a questionnaire survey of
the occupant the comfort conditions were
identified and from that finding an assessment of
the buildings fenestration has been done to
determine its contributory role on the factors
effecting thermal comfort.
For this purpose the UAP (University of Asia
Pacific) Architecture Building was taken as case
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study. The steel extension of the renovated
building which is 3 storied has rooms of similar
configuration but with different opening
conditions. This presents an opportunity to survey
users of each room for comfort condition in a
given period. Based on the feed back and cross
linking the measured climatic data through an
anemometer, it can be determined how the
opening configurations are effecting the indoor
environment.
Due to the short duration of the study only winter
months were available, so the comfort condition
surveyed is not a clear representation of the
comfort situation that are desirable in summer
months in Bangladesh.
humidity and radiant temperature (Humphreys &
Nicol, 2002).The second set of climatic variables
are take into account for this research.
Thermal Comfort Zone: The range of acceptable
comfort conditions is generally referred to as the
comfort zone. Attempts have been made since the
early 1900s to create a single figure comfort
index. The latest comfort index now generally
accepted, is the ET∗ (ETstar) or new effective
temperature, and its standardized version, the
CET.

2. Literature Survey
This literature review covers topics related to
thermal comfort including bioclimatic charts,
thermal comfort models, climate responsive
building design, design-dependent elements and
thermal performance studies in buildings.

Thermal comfort: Thermal comfort is a

condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with
the thermal environment. A definition most
people can agree on, but also a definition that is
not easily converted into physical parameter
(Olesen, 2000).It is maintained when the heat
generated by the human metabolism is allowed to
dissipate at a rate that maintains thermal
equilibrium in the body. Any heat gain or loss
beyond this generates substantial discomfort.
Human occupants are more sensitive to the
variation of temperature rather than relative
humidity (Hussein et al., 2002). Many research
done by several researchers such as Agung Murti
Nugroho (2011), Hussein and Rahman (2009) and
Wafi and Ismail (2010) also indicate that thermal
comfort does affect its occupancy. According to
Fanger (1982), thermal comfort refers to
metabolism levels that can be assessed by
variables that include activities, clothing
resistance, air temperature, relative humidity, air
velocity, and mean radiant temperature. Two
groups of personal physiological variables of
metabolism are 1) result of activities and the
thermal resistance of clothing; and 2) climate
variables that include air temperature, air velocity,
relative
Fig:1- Corrected Effective Temperature Chart and
comfort level in Bangladesh
Thermal Comfort Models (PMV): People
intuitively know what factors affect their comfort,
but they have not been translated into metrics. The
ASHRAE 55 comfort standard uses a formula to
translate these six variables into a single output,
called predictive mean vote (PMV). Through
extensive testing, the PMV predicts what
percentage of people will be comfortable at a
given condition. PMV provides a clear,
standardized specification for a building. Only
using temperature in the specification is so
widespread because it is a single, easily measured
variable that can be monitored to verify the
building meets its specification. It can encompass
all possible combinations of the six variables and
translate these into a single, easily modeled,
specifiable value.
 International Conference on Green Architecture (ICGrA 2018)

ventilation system can reduce the negative effect

of solar radiation in increasing the indoor air
temperature (Al-Tamimi, N. and Syed Fazil,
2010).
Fig:2- PMV scale
3. Information and Collected Data:
The study was carried out on the Department of
Comfort Zone in Tropical Climates Architecture building in the UAP campus in
Dhanmondi road no.4/A. Materials were the case
study building, temperature and humidity data
collected from concerned rooms, and
Anemometer used for this data collection.
Measurements of the windows and photos from
exterior were other related materials in the study.
In addition to all, monthly temperature data for
Dhaka in September 2015 was obtained from
Meteorological office.

3.1. Climatic Data Source: Meteorological Dept.

Fig:3- Range of Comfort Level in Tropical

Region

Impact of Envelope Design on Thermal

Performance: Building envelope is one of the
most important components with respect to total
heat gain of whole building. Despite of the
availability of many experimental and numerical
research studies conducted in some tropical warm
and humid climates to investigate the impact of
building envelope in internal thermal performance
Fig-4: i) Avg Max & Min Temp Chart & ii)
consumption, there is only a limited amount of
research literature on building envelope Sunhours in Dhaka
fenestrations through the climate responsive
design requirements to achieve energy-efficient
building in hot and humid climate. In this paper,
the relevant literature in the above aspects will be
reviewed. Windows, doors, and skylights have a
significant impact on the thermal performance of
the building envelope. Windows can also have a
strong influence on the use, productivity, and
comfort of the people who occupy the building.
Study reported by Jinghua Yu (2006) showed that
heat gain through the exterior window accounts
for 25-28% of the total heat gain, They allow
natural light, offer a visual communication with
outdoors, reduce a structural load and enhance
aesthetic appearance of buildings (Datta, 2001;
Al-Saadi, 2006). A proper selection for the
Fig-5: Avg Relative Humidity of Dhaka ii) Avg
optimal area of the glass and applying natural
 Title of Paper

Wind Speed of Dhaka

3.2. Anemometer and collected data:

Fig-6: Anemometer and data collected

Fig-7: CET and comfort scale

3.2.1. Location and Key Plan
3.2. Data Evaluation:

The collected data shows that the outdoor air Location of Building
temperature is 28.5° Celsius and its not changing
in different floors. The indoor temperature is
changing and in ground,1st,and 2nd floor, the
temperature is 25°, 27°, 28° Celsius respectively .
The RH is constant ( RH value reading as found
in Anemometer ) but the wind velocity in the
interior is different in each room. The change in
wind speed could be caused due to the positional
change of window and the depth of the room.

From another set of data, the WBT and the DBT

are measured and from that the CET (Corrected
Effective Temperature) can be derived. and Location of Rooms
crosschecking using the CET chart the comfort
level of the prevailing wind flow is predicted.

The user feedback was gathered through simple

questionnaire survey, The survey will determine
the PMV equivalent. The predicted comfort feed
back are then compared with the feedback from
the user. If the both feed backs are found to be
similar then it could be concluded that the
corresponding window positions are adequate to
ensure Thermal comfort or not.
Fig-8: Case Study Building Location extension part
of the building
 International Conference on Green Architecture (ICGrA 2018)

3.2.2. Building Floor Plans

Fig-09: Building Floor Plans

Fig-09: Effect of opening position on wind flow

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4. Analysis and Result:
The opening in the building allow different type
of air flow at different floors. In the ground floor
there are no opening on the south side, so there
are no ventilation on the Room A. but the indoor
air temperature is low due to less solar
penetration. In the second floor the Room-B is
shorter in depth than Room -C , and it has opening
on the side, This allows for the air to circulate at a
relatively higher velocity. Where as in Room -C,
the room has opening on both sides but the air
velocity is reduced during direct cross ventilation,
Thus the area near the south window is more
comfortable than its near the north.
From the questionnaire survey of the 3 rooms it
was found that the participants on the ground
floor felt uncomfortable. Occupant of the B and C
rooms when near the south window felt
comfortable. Only the occupants at the northern
side showed dissatisfaction.
Fig-09: Axonometric view of the in
Fig-10: Interior Axonometric
5. Conclusion:
This study reveals that the effect of opening
position on the thermal comfort of a building. It
can be seen that because of air circulation in an
area it gives a sense of comfort where the RH and
the temperature is higher than accepted comfort
temperature. And in tropical climate the sensation
of wind flowing through the skin gives the most
comfortable feeling. For that reason, rooms that
has greater indoor air change rate and velocity
feels most comfortable than a room with less
cross ventilation but with lower temperature. In
this regard it can be concluded that the position of
opening which effects ventilation plays an
important role than measures taken to lower heat
gain for the thermal comfort of any building.
Further study in this regard might be carried out to
find out the suitable opening size in the building
as well as the relative positioning of the opening
to ensure maximum natural ventilation and as a
result maximum thermal comfort.
6. Reference:
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“Assessment of Thermal Performance of
Residential Buildings in Ibadan Land,
Nigeria”, Journal of Emerging Trend in
Engineering and Applied Sciences (JETEAS),
29110: 581-586.
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Architectural Science the basis of sustainable
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Architecture, Applied Science
Publishers,London
[4] McMullan, R. (1998) Environmental Science
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[5] Bouchlaghem, N. (2000) Optimising the
Design of Buiklding Envelopes for
ThermalPerformance, Automation in
 International Conference on Green Architecture (ICGrA 2018)

Construction, Vol. 10, pp: 101-112.

[6] Roulet, C.A. (2001) Indoor Environment

Quality in Buildings and Its Impact onOutdoor
Environment, Energy and Buildings, Vol. 33,
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[7] Watson, D. and K., Labs (1983) Climatic

Design: Energy Efficient Building Principles
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