An Investigation of Thermal Comfort of Houses in Dry and Semi-Arid Climates of Quetta, Pakistan

Waqas Ahmed Mahar, Griet Verbeeck, Manoj Kumar Singh and Shady Attia
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Waqas Ahmed Mahar: Sustainable Building Design (SBD) Lab, Department of UEE, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universitè de Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
Griet Verbeeck: Faculty of Architecture and Arts, Hasselt University, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
Manoj Kumar Singh: Department of Human and Social Systems, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
Shady Attia: Sustainable Building Design (SBD) Lab, Department of UEE, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universitè de Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 19, 1-21

Abstract: In Pakistan, reinforced concrete frame houses are the most widely used and common construction technology. In a country that experiences extreme hot and cold seasons throughout the year, buildings need to be adaptable to the climate to improve the thermal comfort of the inhabitants. Therefore, the aim of this study was to improve thermal comfort in reinforced concrete frame houses using passive design and energy efficiency measures in Quetta, Pakistan. Thermal comfort of a representative house was investigated using a building performance simulation. The building model created in EnergyPlus was validated by comparing it with on-site monitored data in both summer and winter seasons. The model was calibrated using statistical methods. Then, the calibrated model was used to perform a whole year simulation in which various orientations, ventilation, passive design, and energy efficiency strategies were applied to perform parametric analysis for the improvement of thermal comfort. The best fit-to-context thermal comfort model was selected, and the potential of bioclimatic design strategies was quantified. The results indicate that by adopting passive design strategies comfort hours can be increased from 43% to 59%. The results of the study revealed many findings which could be useful for architects and building engineers to set a future direction for improvement of indoor comfort in Quetta as well as in many other areas of Balochistan Province in Pakistan.

Keywords: adaptive thermal comfort; residential buildings; heating dominated; passive measures; design recommendations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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