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Case Study of Trombe Wall Inducing Natural Ventilation through Cooled

Basement Air to Meet Space Cooling Needs

Article  in  Journal of Energy Engineering · July 2016

DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EY.1943-7897.0000393

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 Case Study of Trombe Wall Inducing Natural
Ventilation through Cooled Basement Air to
Meet Space Cooling Needs
Mazen Badawiyeh 1; Nesreen Ghaddar 2; and Kamel Ghali 3
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Abstract: Underground spaces normally are at cooler air temperature than ambient air temperature because of earth-sheltered walls. This
cooler air can be circulated to occupied spaces using a solar chimney effect to exhaust air from the basement to where it is needed. This work
aims to study the viability of using natural ventilation induced by a Trombe wall to draw fresh air from underground basement floors for space
cooling in the dry desert climate. Outdoor air is delivered to the basement through an earth tube. A numerical model integrating thermal
models of the basement space and the occupied zone, and the Trombe wall is used to predict the air temperature variation with time in the
occupied space air temperature and to predict thermal comfort. The feasibility of implementing the proposed system is assessed in a case
study of a residence in the inland dry desert climate of Lebanon during the summer. It was found that the proposed system achieved thermally
comfortable conditions at 80% acceptability for a considerable number of hours without the need for mechanical ventilation (83.3% in
June and 58.3% in August). The electric energy consumption of the system over summer (June through September) was estimated at
7.71 kW · h=m2 of floor area. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EY.1943-7897.0000393. © 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Natural ventilation; Trombe wall; Solar energy; Energy efficiency; Basement air modeling.

Introduction could be a feasible solution for providing thermal comfort in mod-

With increased world population and human development, the en-
ergy demand of buildings is forecasted to continue rising around
the world in the coming decades if measures are not strictly applied
to reduce dependence on electrical energy for air conditioning
(Xing et al. 2011; Ibn-Mohammed et al. 2013; IEA 2013a). Res-
idential buildings use 27% of the total energy consumption world-
wide (Laustsen 2008). Hence, energy effectiveness should be
enhanced by adopting energy-efficiency measures that decrease
building energy consumption in heating ventilation and air condi-
tioning (HVAC) systems (IEA 2013b).
Mechanical ventilation is the most widely used mechanism for
building air conditioning in the twentieth century (Kleiven 2003),
however, it is associated with substantial initial installation, main-
tenance, and operating costs (Wigginton and Harris 2002). The
energy consumption associated with ventilation in buildings has
been steadily increasing (Roodman and Lenssen 1995), which
led to consideration of other less energy consuming alternative sys-
tems for building ventilation (Ford et al. 1998). Natural ventilation
1 temperature during high outdoor conditions (U.S. Department of
Graduate Student, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Dept. of
Mechanical Engineering, American Univ. of Beirut, P.O. Box 11-0236,
Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon. E-mail: mazen.badawiyeh@gmail.com
2
Qatar Chair in Energy Studies Professor, Faculty of Engineering and
Architecture, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, American Univ. of Beirut,
P.O. Box 11-0236, Beirut 1107- 2020, Lebanon (corresponding author).
E-mail: farah@aub.edu.lb
3
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chair, Faculty of Engineer-
ing and Architecture, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, American Univ. of
Beirut, P.O. Box 11-0236, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon. E-mail: ka04@
aub.edu.lb
Note. This manuscript was submitted on November 4, 2015; approved
on May 26, 2016; published online on July 19, 2016. Discussion period
open until December 19, 2016; separate discussions must be submitted
for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Energy Engi-
neering, © ASCE, ISSN 0733-9402.
erate climates and for reducing energy consumption in residential
buildings.
Natural ventilation was found promising in moderate climates
for several types of buildings; it was found to reduce building energy
consumption and offer an acceptable indoor environment (Pfafferott
2004; Pfafferott et al. 2013; Annan et al. 2016). In the Middle East, a
52% possibility of natural ventilation usage is expected in Lebanon
under current weather data (Annan et al. 2016), compared with
10–40% energy savings achieved in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
(UAE) during moderate climate months (Taleb et al. 2015). Unfortu-
nately, the main disadvantage of using natural ventilation is its
dependence on the outdoor conditions, which means that if the out-
side air temperature is high, then there would be no possibility of
taking advantage of this system except possibly in providing night
ventilation. Providing acceptable thermal comfort conditions all year
round is not possible relying on natural ventilation alone.
Researchers have considered hybrid mixed ventilation systems
in which moderating fresh air temperature is achieved through other
means. The earth-to-air heat exchanger (EAHE) is a potential
passive cooling system that can be used to reduce ventilation air
Energy 2007). This technique was implemented in an office build-
ing in Marburg, Germany (Voss et al. 2007; Spieler et al. 2000;
Wagner et al. 2000), in a school in Italy (Grosso and Raimondo
2008), and in a hospital building in India (Badescu and Isvoranu
2011). Moreover, some researchers considered integrating the
mechanical ventilation with earth tubes to increase the effectiveness
of ventilation during the hours of high air temperature (Peretti et al.
2013). However, these techniques are expensive because they
require costly excavation and fan power. Yuebin et al. (2014) exper-
imented with alternative passive cooling techniques using a
Trombe wall and a solar chimney. Trombe walls and solar chimneys
are relatively similar because they both rely on solar-induced,
buoyancy-driven convection. Their results showed that the sug-
gested passive cooling system operated successfully via natural

© ASCE 04016039-1 J. Energy Eng.

J. Energy Eng., 04016039

 ventilation all summer without need of any power source (Yuebin
et al. 2014). Although the solar chimney or the Trombe wall was
shown as a solution to replace the ventilation fan, it still did not
resolve the issue of expensive excavation.
The majority of residential buildings have underground spaces
that are used for a variety of functions. These underground spaces
are characterized by air that is cooler than ambient conditions in
hot-arid climates (Al-Temeemi and Harris 2003). This feature
could be used in space cooling of occupied zones in which the
underground space walls are sheltered by earth and protected from
direct solar radiation (Todorovic and Despotovic 1999). Moder-
ated basement air could replace air-to-earth expensive heat
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exchange in which fresh air is drawn into the basement to mix
with basement air and then into the occupied space. Ghaddar et al.
(2015) modeled the combination of the Trombe wall and base-
ment air moderation for ventilation, but the success of system
operations to attain comfort conditions for the entire summer sea-
son in hot dry climates, combined with forced ventilation, has not
been tackled.
The objective of this work is to study the performance of a natu-
ral ventilation system that uses the Trombe wall to bring fresh air
into the indoor space from an underground basement in dry arid
climates. The basement moderated the fresh air drawn through a
vertical earth tube. The system performance was assessed with re-
spect to energy requirements and its ability to provide acceptable
thermal comfort to occupants using both natural and mechanical
modes of operation. The combined passive cooling system was ap-
plied to a living room of a residential house located in a Lebanon
inland zone that is characterized by a dry hot climate. A numerical
model of the spaces (living room and basement) and the Trombe
wall was developed to predict air temperature in the room and base-
ment, and to predict the associated ventilation flow rate. The effec-
tiveness of natural ventilation using the proposed system was
Fig. 1. Schematic of the combined natural ventilation system with Trombe wall and basement
© ASCE 04016039-2
J. Energy Eng., 04016039
investigated in terms of achieving thermal comfort and economic
feasibility.
System Description and Mathematical Formulation
Fig. 1 shows the natural ventilation system under consideration.
Solar radiation through the glass cover of the Trombe heated the
absorber wall that, in turn, heated the air in the spacing between
the glass and the wall. Heated channel air moved upward by buoy-
ance and drew air from the living room that, in turn, brought cooler
basement air into the room. The air in the basement was drawn from
the outdoors through an earth tube and was moderated because of
the exchange of heat with the cool underground basement walls.
The proposed passive cooling system operation depends on
multiple parameters that include ambient and solar conditions,
basement size and construction material, a Trombe wall air gap,
and glass and absorber wall properties and dimensions. The system
was applied to a case study of a building located in the Inland
Plateau of Lebanon. Lebanon is located on the eastern side of the
Mediterranean (latitude 33°49N; longitude 35°29E). The Inland
Plateau of Lebanon is a semi-arid region characterized by hot and
dry summer days with dry-bulb temperature in the range of
33–37°C, but is cool and dry during summer nights during which
the temperatures are in the range of 21–26°C, and the relative hu-
midity ranges from 32% to 46%. Given the rural nature of the
region, common housing in the inland region is detached discon-
nected houses with basements. The thermal buildings guideline in
that region requires the use of insulation because of cold winters
during which ambient temperature could be as low as −6.7°C (Re-
public of Lebanon Ministry of Public Works and Transport 2005a).
The combined system of the Trombe wall, the room, the soil,
and the basement are modeled using the integrated approach pro-
posed by Ghaddar et al. (2015) to determine the hourly living-room
J. Energy Eng.

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Fig. 2. Diagram of the Trombe wall and its parameters
thermal comfort conditions during representative days of each
summer for the case study.
During day hours, the system used natural ventilation mode and
during night hours the system used a mechanical fan. The compo-
nent models used in this study are described briefly, followed by the
case study description.
Trombe Wall Model
Ong and Chow (2003) developed a steady state one-dimensional
(1D) Trombe wall model to predict the air mass flow rate induced
by the Trombe wall. Their lumped physical model of the Trombe
wall shown in Fig. 2 is adopted in the current work, in which the
energy balances of the glass wall, the buoyant air flow in the sepa-
rating channel, and the absorber wall are formulated on the basis of
an hourly quasi-steady state assumption. The energy balance of the
glass cover is given by
αg I þ hc ðT w − T g Þ þ hg ðT f − T g Þ ¼ U t ðT g − T a Þ
where
hc ¼ σðT 2g þ T 2w ÞðT g þ T w Þ=ð1=εg þ 1=εw − 1Þ
where T g , T w , and T f = temperatures of the glass cover, the
absorber wall, and the air in the channel, respectively; U t = com-
bined radiative heat loss coefficient (hrs ) and convection heat loss
coefficient (hc;wind ) from the glass outer surface; and σ = Stefan
Boltzmann constant. The energy balance of the air flow in the chan-
nel is given by
hw ðT w − T f Þ ¼ hg ðT f − T g Þ þ ṁcf ðT f − T f;i Þ=WL
where the air mass flow rate ṁ (kg=s), because of the stack effect,
was determined using the buoyancy-driven stack effect equation
presented by Allard et al. (1998) and is given by
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 ffi
2ΔTgH
ṁ ¼ ρf Cd A ð3Þ
Tr
where ρf = density of air (kg=m3 ); Cd = opening’s discharge co-
efficient [0.6 according to Flourentzou et al. (1998)]; A = channel
inlet/outlet opening’s cross-sectional area (m2 ); ΔT = temperature
difference between room air T r and T f (°C); g = gravitational ac-
celeration; and H = height between the inlet and the outlet (m) to
the channel. Similarly, the absorber wall energy balance leads to
© ASCE
J. Energy Eng., 04016039
τ αw I ¼ hw ðT w − T f Þ þ hrwg ðT w − T g Þ þ U b ðT w − T r Þ ð4aÞ
where
U b ¼ 1=ð1=hi þ d=kw þ wins =kins Þ ð4bÞ
where the absorbed solar radiation by the vertical wall is balanced
by heat convection with air in the channel, the radiative heat trans-
fer with the glass cover, and the conducted heat transfer to the
room.
Room Model
The room energy balance used a lumped air modeling approach,
but neglected infiltration to predict the indoor temperature varia-
tions in time. The room air energy balance for when it is drawn
from the basement is given by
∂T r ðtÞ X 6
: X
ρf V r c f ¼ hcr Ai ðT i − T r Þ þ mcf ðT ba − T r Þ þ qint
∂t i¼1
ð5aÞ
where ρf , V r , and cf = air density, room volume, and air specific
heat capacity, respectively; Ai = surface area; T i = temperature of the
room internal wall surface element I; ṁ = mass flow rate of the air
drawn from the basement at basement temperature T ba ; and qint =
internal heat load because of lighting, occupancy, and equipment.
The primary purpose of using the Trombe wall in this study was
to generate the required buoyancy capable of drawing the cool air
from the basement as previously mentioned. But to do so, the
Trombe wall needed sufficient solar energy to heat the absorber
wall that drives the air flow in the channel, while maintaining con-
stant room temperature. This is the case during the sunshine hours.
However, during the night when solar energy is not available to
activate the Trombe wall to drive the basement air, a mechanical
fan was used to draw outdoor air for night ventilation. The fan was
operated at the minimum outdoor air requirements of 15 cu ft=min
(cfm) (7.5 L=s) per person for ventilation of residential facilities
ð1aÞ
as per American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-
Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard 62.1 (ASHRAE
2004) to provide minimum fresh air ventilation needs. Hence, the
ð1bÞ lumped air energy balance when the mechanical fan is used is
given by
∂T r ðtÞ X 6
: X
ρf V r c f ¼ hcr Ai ðT i − T r Þ þ mf cf ðT a − T r Þ þ qint
∂t i¼1
ð5bÞ
where ṁf = fan supply flow rate.
ð2Þ The convection heat transfer at each of the room internal walls
depends on the wall temperature. Accordingly, the transient 1D
heat conduction equation presented by Yassine et al. (2012) was
adopted to determine the space wall temperatures. The 1D heat
transfer was assumed in the walls while considering the storage
effect because of varying outdoor conditions and internal loads.
Thus, the transient heat conduction equation for the absorber wall
and external room walls is given by
∂2T ∂T
kw 2
− ρ w cw ¼0 ð6Þ
∂x ∂t
The absorber wall outer surface temperature was determined
from the Trombe wall model. The external wall surfaces used con-
vective and radiative heat transfer boundary conditions as reported
by Yassine et al. (2012).
04016039-3 J. Energy Eng.
 Basement Model
The basement space model aimed to define the temperature varia-
tions of the basement air, T ba , over time. A dynamic heat balance
equation of the underground space presented by Kajtar et al. (2015)
was adopted in this study. The heat balance of the underground
space is given by
∂T ba ðtÞ
ρ f V b cf ¼ qintðbÞ − qw ðtÞ − qs ðtÞ
∂t
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where qintðbÞ = internal heat load in the basement; and qw ðtÞ = heat
transfer by convection from the air to the wall as follows:
X
4
qw ðtÞ ¼ hcb Ai ½T ba ðtÞ − T i ðx; tÞjx¼0 
i¼1
where Ai and T i = surface area and the temperature of the room
wall i. The heat because of ventilation is given by
qs ðtÞ ¼ ṁ cf ½T ba ðtÞ − T a ðtÞ
The outdoor air was assumed to be brought to the basement
through a vertical earth tube at the floor level to ensure good mixing
with basement air. The outdoor air temperature was moderated be-
cause of the heat exchanges with the basement cool surfaces and to
mix with the mass of air present. The extent of cooling of basement
air depended on the surrounding ground vertical temperature
distribution.
Labs and Cook (1989) modeled and reported the ground temper-
ature as a function of the time of year and the depth below the
surface. Their correlation was adopted by Florides and Kalogirou
(2004) and was adopted in the current work. The soil temperature
correlation is given is given by
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi!
π The optimal comfort temperature, T comf , is given by
T soil ðz; tÞ ¼ T mean − T amp × exp −z
365 × α
" T comf ¼ 0.31 × T a;out þ 17.8
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi!#
2π z 365
× cos tyear − tshift −
365 2 π×α
where T soil = soil temperature; z = depth; tyear = time of the year (in
days); tshift = day of the year of the minimum surface temperature
(For Lebanon Inland Plateau, tshift is 35 days corresponding to the
date of Feb. 4); T mean = mean annual ground surface temperature,
which is equal to the average air temperature (°C); T amp = temper-
ature amplitude at the ground surface amplitude of surface temper-
ature (the maximum surface temperature will be (T mean þ T amp )
and the minimum value will be T mean − T amp ); and α = thermal
diffusivity of the soil (Florides and Kalogirou 2004). The soil tem-
perature below the basement’s floor construction was calculated at
equal soil depth to the basement depth. Moreover, temperature as
the external temperature of the basement vertical wall in contact
with the soil. This average temperature was obtained by integrating
Eq. (8) with respect to z and divided by the submerged wall depth.
Al-Temeemi and Harris (2003) reported the expression for the aver-
age vertical soil temperature as follows:
© ASCE
J. Energy Eng., 04016039
T amp
T soil ða − b; tÞ ¼ T mean þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2ðπ=365αÞða − bÞ
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi!
π
× exp −z
365 × α
" rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi!#a
2π π
× cos t − tshift − z ð9Þ
365 year 365 × α
b
ð7aÞ
The values from Eq. (9) represent the boundary conditions for
each wall in the simulation of the below-grade wall section using
Eq. (6) that was adopted for the absorber wall. The basement model
assumed that the temperature of the soil changed in accordance with
the change of season. This change meant that a certain delay and
damping in soil temperature took place as depth of soil increased.
The amplitude of the temperature change was 0.6 and 0.2°C at the
ð7bÞ depths of 8 m and 10 m, respectively (Kajtar et al. 2015). The location
of the underground space determined the reference soil temperature to
be used. Further, the low-thermal diffusivity of the soil (0.316 ×
10−6 m2 =s in the current case study, which is much lower than that
of the air, 22.5 × 10−6 m2 =s) justified the consideration of the soil
temperature as quasi-stationary. The temperature fluctuations at the
surface of the ground are diffused very slowly in depth because
of the soil’s high-thermal capacity. Accordingly, daily ground temper-
ð7cÞ atures were considered rather than hourly ones (Florides and
Kalogirou 2004). The soil was assumed a homogeneous material
in terms of heat transfer properties with its resultant thermal character-
istics (Kajtar et al. 2015). The concrete walls were considered to have
similar thermal characteristics as the soil (Kajtar et al. 2015).
Thermal Comfort Model
Thermal comfort models have been reported for mechanically
ventilated/cooled indoor environments [ASHRAE standard 55
(ASHRAE 1992); Fanger 1970; Kruger 2008; Zhang et al. 2010].
Because proposed systems in this work relied on natural ventila-
tion, the new ASHRAE standard 55 (ASHRAE 2001) adaptive
comfort model (ACM) was used. The ACM, according to de Dear
and Brager (2002) and Taleghani et al. (2014), predicts occupants’
thermal comfort in naturally ventilated rooms using a single input
variable, which is the outdoor mean temperature, T a;out .
ð10Þ
ð8Þ where T a;out and T comf are expressed in °C. Eq. (10) applies to
outdoor dry-bulb temperature ranges between 5 and 32°C, and for
sedentary activity levels less than 1.3 MET (Metabolic Equivalent
of Task; 1 MET = 104 W) (Taleghani et al. 2014). Residential ap-
plications consider an 80% acceptability limit as adequate for ther-
mal comfort level. For higher standards of thermal comfort level, a
90% acceptability limit may be used. The range of temperatures
around T comf within the 80% thermal acceptability is determined
on the basis of outdoor temperature.
Numerical Simulation Methodology
A numerical finite difference method was used in this work. An
implicit first-order time integration scheme was used for room air,
external walls, Trombe wall, and basement energy balance equa-
tions, and a second-order spatial discretization was used for the
wall nodes. Each layer of the wall was divided into control vol-
umes. A total of 70 nodes was used for the wall. Input data for the
geometry, thermal properties, and boundary and initial conditions
04016039-4 J. Energy Eng.
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Fig. 3. Flow chart of the numerical modeling methodology

were compiled for each model. The system model predicted the
amount of induced airflow and associated thermal comfort during
natural ventilation hours and during the periods when mechanical
ventilation was used.
Simulations were performed using a developed MATLAB code
to find the room air temperature in response to external and internal
loads as indicated in the flow chart (Fig. 3). Starting from the
Trombe wall model that predicts the absorber-wall outer surface
temperature facing glass and using a time step of 360 s, the inner
surface temperatures of the inner walls and the absorber wall were
computed. Simulations were performed for a representative day on
the 15th of each month from June to September. The representative
day simulation was continued over a number of cycle days until a
steady periodic solution state was reached for the room air temper-
ature. The criterion for convergence was set when the maximum
percentage error in air temperature at time t and t þ 24 h was less
than 10−4 %. The flow chart shown in Fig. 3 summarizes the path
followed to calculate the needed output from the developed model.
Case Study
The proposed natural ventilation system implementation was con-
sidered for a small isolated, single living room over a basement
(Fig. 1) for the climate of an inland district in Lebanon, character-
ized by a hot arid climate. Table 1 summarizes the outdoor temper-
ature and solar radiation data for representative summer days at the
15th of each month, June through September (Fawaz et al. 2014).
The room base area was 6 × 5 m and its height was taken as 2.8 m.
It was exposed to the outside from two sides. The external plastered
walls used typical construction of Lebanese building material
(15-cm hollow blocks), whereas the insulated roof was made of
20-cm reinforced concrete (Republic of Lebanon Ministry of Pub-
lic Works and Transport 2005b). The overall heat transfer coeffi-
cients for the external wall and roof were 2.36 and 1.67 W=m2 · K,
respectively. The basement area was similar to the living room with
a submerged depth of 2.5 m in soil. The soil thermal diffusivity,
thermal conductivity, and heat capacity were 0.316 × 10−6 m2 =s,

© ASCE 04016039-5 J. Energy Eng.

J. Energy Eng., 04016039

 Table 1. Ambient and Solar Data for Typical Summer Day on 15th of Each Month for the Inland Lebanon Climate
June July August September
Ambient Solar Ambient Solar Ambient Solar Ambient Solar
temperature radiation temperature radiation temperature radiation temperature radiation
Time (h) (°C) (W=m2 ) (°C) (W=m2 ) (°C) (W=m2 ) (°C) (W=m2 )
1 14.4 — 23.7 — 18.3 — 17.9 —
2 14.1 — 21 — 16.4 — 16.8 —
3 13.7 — 18.7 — 16.4 — 14.8 —
4 12.5 — 17.1 — 14.4 — 14.8 —
5 12.1 — 15.6 — 13.7 — 13.7 —
6 14.4 514 16.0 448 15.2 405 13.7 359
7 18.7 762 21.3 707 16.8 671 13.3 631
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8 23.7 979 26.4 934 24.4 904 22.5 867

9 26.0 1,148 28.7 1,113 28.7 1,087 28.0 1,051
10 28.0 1,259 31.2 1,232 31.6 1,208 31.2 1,169
11 30.4 1,303 33.6 1,283 34.1 1,258 33.2 1,215
12 32.4 1,278 34.5 1,263 36.2 1,235 32.8 1,185
13 33.2 1,186 34.5 1,173 35.3 1,139 34.1 1,080
14 33.6 1,032 35.3 1,018 36.6 978 33.6 909
15 34.1 827 34.9 810 36.2 762 32.8 683
16 33.6 586 34.5 563 34.1 506 31.6 417
17 32.0 324 33.2 294 29.9 227 28.3 274
18 31.2 — 32.0 — 26.4 — 26.4 —
19 29.5 — 28.7 — 24.8 — 24 —
20 24.0 — 25.2 — 22.9 — 22.5 —
21 22.1 — 24 — 22.1 — 21.0 —
22 22.1 — 22.1 — 21.0 — 20.2 —
23 19.8 — 20.2 — 20.2 — 20.2 —
24 19.8 — 20.2 — 20.2 — 20.2 —

0.50 W=m · K, 1.59 × 103 kJ=m3 · K, respectively. The basement
vertical walls had similar construction to the roof, but was not in-
sulated, whereas its floor was made of concrete tiles.
The occupancy schedule was taken for a six-person family that
at peak time would occupy the living room (Republic of Lebanon
Ministry of Public Works and Transport 2005a). Fig. 4 shows the
living room summertime schedule of occupancy and the electrical
load during the sunshine hours. The electrical loads were 10 W=m2
for lighting fixtures and 800 W for appliances.
The Trombe wall was incorporated at the south wall of the living
room, which had a 5-m width and 2.8-m height. Its absorber
masonry wall was covered by a double-glazed wall (emissivity
of 0.75) and had thickness 0.4 m, thermal conductivity of
1.8 W=m · K, and emissivity of 0.2. The back of the absorber wall
was insulated by a 5-cm layer of insulation with a thermal conduc-
tivity of 0.032 W=m · K. The air channel width was 0.3 m. The
Trombe wall was operated during sunshine hours to draw the base-
ment’s cool air into the living room, whereas the mechanical ven-
tilation fan was operated during low solar radiation and night hours
to meet minimum ventilation requirements.
The performance of the combined system was evaluated with
respect to the maximum number of hours in which comfort was
achieved with minimum dependence on forced ventilation.

Results and Discussion

Simulations were performed on the case study for the representative

days of each summer month. For the month of June, Fig. 5 shows
the ambient temperature, the indoor room temperature, and the
basement temperature (a); and the associated air supply mass flow
rate into the room (b). Similarly, Figs. 6–8 show the temperatures of
ambient air, indoor air, and basement air (a); and the room air
supply flow rate for the months of July, August, and September,
respectively (b).
The comparison of ambient, basement, and room air tempera-
tures during the month of June are shown in Fig. 5(a). The differ-
ence between the ambient air and basement air temperatures was in
the range of 1.3–7.2°C. It is shown that under the natural airflow
Fig. 4. Plots of (a) the occupancy schedule; (b) electrical load schedule
mode, the supply basement air temperature was in the range of
inside the living room during sunshine hours
19–26.9°C and at least 2.0°C below the outdoor air temperature

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Fig. 5. (a) Predicted temperatures; (b) room supply air mass flow rate
in the occupied room for the representative day of the month of June
Fig. 7. (a) Predicted temperatures; (b) room supply air mass flow rate
in the occupied room for the representative day of the month of August

Fig. 6. (a) Predicted temperatures; (b) room supply air mass flow rate
in the occupied room for the representative day of the month of July
[Fig. 6(a)]. Furthermore, the room air temperature fluctuated in the
range of 22.7–30.1°C. Only two discomfort hours during the
representative day (between hours 13 and 15) were found during
this month; discomfort was determined on the basis of the accept-
able operative indoor temperature ranges that were determined for
each month as recommended by the new adaptive comfort standard
for ASHRAE Standard 55 (ASHRAE 2001) (Table 2). The mean
outdoor air temperature was evaluated for the whole month, and not
for the typical day considered, to determine the acceptable opera-
tive indoor temperature ranges. The primary reason behind the
Fig. 8. (a) Predicted temperatures; (b) room supply air mass flow rate
in the occupied room for the representative day of the month of
September
noticed discomfort hours was that the supply basement air temper-
atures were not cool enough to moderate the indoor air tempera-
tures because of the high ambient temperatures during these two
hours. Conversely, during the night and until sunrise, the assisting
mechanical fan was turned on at the constant air flow, which
brought outside air directly to the living room, unlike the Trombe
wall that brought basement air into the room. Thus, the pattern of

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 Table 2. Calculated Indoor Operative Temperature Limits for Comfort in flow rate increased with increasing solar radiation and that the
Naturally Ventilated Rooms for Inland Climate of Lebanon airflow rate varied from 0.041 kg=s to maximum of 0.097 kg=s
80% Acceptability on the basis during this month. Moreover, it was found that the lowest value
of ASHRAE Standard 55 of the ventilation air occurred during this month at the 18th h, dur-
(ASHRAE 2001) ing which the solar intensity was relatively very low (324 W=m2 )
Lebanon inland Minimum Maximum and close to 0.041 kg=s. However, during the forced airflow mode,
mean monthly permitted room permitted room external air was drawn into the living room using a constant speed
outdoor air temperature for temperature for fan that was turned on continuously at a constant air flow rate of
Month temperature (°C) comfort (°C) comfort (°C) 0.04 kg=s. This provided a sufficient rate of outdoor air replenish-
June 27.7 22.8 29.8 ment to fulfill ventilation requirements during nonsunshine hours
July 30.1 23.5 30.5 [Fig. 5(b)]. During the forced airflow mode, the basement heat bal-
August 29.8 23.4 30.4 ance was treated as a closed room with no air getting in or out.
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September 27.3 22.7 29.7
Fig. 9. Number of discomfort hours for 80% acceptable thermal com-
fort conditions in the living room during the sunshine hours (June
through September)
the supply air temperature changed after the forced airflow mode
was initiated for the period hour extended from the 19 h to 6 h, with
the supply ambient air in the range of 12.1–31.2°C [Fig. 5(a)]. In
addition, there was a large gap between the profiles of basement
and ambient air temperatures during the sunshine hours when the
basement was treated as an open system; this was primarily because
of the much greater heat capacity of the sandy clay loam soil (approx-
imately 1,325 times) as compared with air (1.59 versus 0.0012 MJ=
m3 · K). However, this gap became smaller during the night when the
ambient air temperature gradually dropped [Fig. 5(a)].
Similar behavior was observed for the representative days of the
other summer months (July through September) as shown in Figs. 6
(a), 7(a) and 8(a), during which three discomfort hours (between
hours 11 and 14) were found during July compared with five dis-
comfort hours (between hours 11 and 16) during August, and four
discomfort hours (between hours 11 and 15) during September.
For the month of June and during the natural cooling mode, the
Trombe wall was operational for the sunshine hours extending from
the 7th to the 18th hour. It is clear from Fig. 5(b) that the induced air
For the remaining summer months (July through September),
a similar trend of air flow rate variation occurred [Figs. 6(b),
7(b), and 8(b)]; the peak value of the ventilation air occurred
in August at the 12th h when solar intensity was strong enough
(1; 258 W=m2 ) and was close to 0.102 kg=s.
From the previous results, Fig. 9 shows the total number of dis-
comfort hours that occurred during each month in the living room.
Thus, for the sunshine hour period extending from the 7th h to the
18th h (natural airflow mode), the thermal comfort was achieved at
80% acceptability for 83.3% of the time during month of June, 75%
during July, 58.3% during August, and 66.7% during September.
Moreover, these results were benchmarked with a similar study
conducted by Yassine et al. (2014) during the month of August
for the same climatic and solar conditions, and for the same living
room area and schedule at different wall configurations. However,
they tampered air temperature by using an EAHE compared with
this study, in which air tampering was done by using the under-
ground basement. Table 3 shows that the current ventilation system
and that of Yassine et al. (2014) has almost the same potential in
providing indoor thermal comfort for the whole occupied period in
the living zone. However, using EAHE has other problems asso-
ciated with maintenance, cleanness, and its high cost. The proposed
system used existing basement air that is less complex, easier to
clean, and can be retrofitted to existing rooms if the house has a
basement.
Economic Analysis
The proposed natural ventilation system performance was com-
pared with a mechanical cooling system that would lower the
ambient temperature to the level that matched the basement temper-
atures obtained by the proposed natural ventilation system. The
comparison was made with a mechanical ventilation system that
used a direct expansion system at a coefficient of performance
of 3.0 to cool the outdoor air to the basement air temperature drawn
by the natural ventilation method at each hour. The split unit was
used only when the basement temperature was lower than the am-
bient air (T ba < T a ). The savings in electrical power were calcu-
lated on the basis of the required energy to drop the ambient air
temperature to the basement air temperature when T ba < T a .

Table 3. Benchmarking with a Case Study Conducted by Yassine et al. (2014) during August
Occupied Natural Number of discomfort
Case study period Wall configurations means hours
Yassine et al. 8–23 h 15 cm hollow concrete (base case) EAHE 7 h (11–18 h)
(2014) 8–23 h 3 cm of straw sandwiched between 2 cm × 6 cm of hempcrete EAHE 3 h (14–17 h)
8–23 h 5 cm of straw sandwiched between 2 cm × 10 cm of hempcrete EAHE 0
Current study 7–18 h 15 cm concrete + 5 cm insulation + 1 cm plaster on the inside Trombe 5 h (11–16 h)
and outside of the wall wall

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 Notation

The following symbols are used in this paper:

A = area (m2 );
c = specific heat (J=kg · K);
d = thickness of absorber wall (m);
h = convective heat transfer coefficient (W=m2 · K);
I = incident solar radiation on vertical surface (W=m2 );
k = thermal conductivity (W=m · K);
L = length of absorber wall (m);
ṁ = mass flow rate (kg=s);
qint = room internal heat gain (W);
Fig. 10. Energy savings in the occupied room (June through September)
qintðbÞ = internal heat load in the basement (W);
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t = time (s);
T = temperature;
V = wind velocity (m=s);
Fig. 10 demonstrates the energy savings attained in the living V r = room volume (m3 );
zone when adopting the proposed system as compared with a W = width of air channel (m);
100% mechanical ventilation systems. The highest energy saving α = absorptivity;
was reached during the month of July with 68.17 kWh ε = emissivity;
(2.3 kWh=m2 ), whereas it reached its lowest value during the ρ = density (kg=m3 ); and
month of September with 34.52 kWh (1.15 kWh=m2 ). In June τ = transmission coefficient.
and August, the energy savings were found to be 60.68 kWh
(2.02 kWh=m2 ) and 67.93 kWh (2.26 kWh=m2 ), respectively. Subscripts
The results of the case study showed that the proposed natural ven-
tilation system is effective. It reduced the cooling energy demand. a = ambient air;
Moreover, the total electric energy consumption of the system ba = basement air;
over a period of four months (June through September) was esti- f = air in the channel of the Trombe wall;
mated to be 231.3 kWh (7.71 kWh=m2 ). The cost of electricity in g = glass;
Lebanon is estimated as 0.13$=kWh. Therefore, the cost of elec- r = room; and
tricity consumption by the mechanical ventilation system over the w = wall.
four months was $30.1 (1$=m2 ). As for the proposed system,
the incremental cost of adding glazed cover windows in front of
the wall with the required vents and dampers was considered.
Ultimately, the average completed Trombe wall cost $119, at a pay- References
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