Thermal Performance of Single-Story Air-Welled Terraced House in Malaysia: A Field Measurement Approach

Pau Chung Leng, Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling, Mohd Hamdan Ahmad, Dilshan Remaz Ossen, Eeydzah Aminudin, Weng Howe Chan and Dg Normaswanna Tawasil
Additional contact information
Pau Chung Leng: Faculty of Built Environment & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor 81300, Malaysia
Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling: Faculty of Built Environment & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor 81300, Malaysia
Mohd Hamdan Ahmad: Faculty of Built Environment & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor 81300, Malaysia
Dilshan Remaz Ossen: Department of Architecture Engineering, Kingdom University, Riffa 40434, Bahrain
Eeydzah Aminudin: School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia, Johor 81300, Malaysia
Weng Howe Chan: School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor 81300, Malaysia
Dg Normaswanna Tawasil: School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia, Johor 81300, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-23

Abstract: The provision requirement of 10% openings of the total floor area stated in the Uniform Building By-Law 1984 Malaysia is essential for natural lighting and ventilation purposes. However, focusing on natural ventilation, the effectiveness of thermal performance in landed residential buildings has never been empirically measured and proven, as most of the research emphasized simulation modeling lacking sufficient empirical validation. Therefore, this paper drawing on field measurement investigates natural ventilation performance in terraced housing with an air-well system. The key concern as to what extent the current air-well system serving as a ventilator is effective to provide better thermal performance is to be addressed. By adopting an existing single-story air-welled terrace house, indoor environmental conditions and thermal performance were monitored and measured using HOBO U12 air temperature and humidity, the HOBO U12 anemometer, and the Delta Ohm HD32.3 Wet Bulb Globe Temperature meter for a six-month duration. The results show that the air temperature of the air well ranged from 27.48 °C to 30.92 °C, with a mean relative humidity of 72.67% to 79.25%. The mean air temperature for a test room (single-sided ventilation room) ranged from 28.04 °C to 30.92 °C, with a relative humidity of 70.16% to 76.00%. These empirical findings are of importance, offering novel policy insights and suggestions. Since the minimum provision of 10% openings has been revealed to be less effective to provide desirable thermal performance and comfort, mandatory compliance with and the necessity of the bylaw requirement should be revisited.

Keywords: air shaft; solar chimney; air well; field measurement; natural ventilation; tropical climate; terrace house; passive cooling design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/201/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/201/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:201-:d:469595

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().