Civil Engineering and Architecture Vol. 8(5), pp. 792 - 800
DOI: 10.13189/cea.2020.080506
Reprint (PDF) (849Kb)

Air Temperature Analysis of a Residential House Using Soliworks Flow Simulation

Estrella C. Macabutas ^1,2,*, Alejandro F. Tongco ^1
1 Engineering Graduate Program, School of Engineering, University of San Carlos, Philippines
² College of Engineering and Technology, Western Philippines University, Philippines

ABSTRACT

The model house under study is a typical house with a G.I. roofing but it was retrofitted by adding a green-material (bamboo) into, thereby forming a parallel plate air passage. The air, in passing this channel (airgap), undergoes a natural or free convection process of cooling. Buoyant forces cause this downward flow of cooled air through the airgap. The roofing airgap designed to direct this cooled air to the room to be ventilated. The flow through the airgap is laminar because of the low air velocity caused by the free-convection process of cooling. This study evaluated the performance of a house with roofing that was retrofitted with a type of green-material called bamboo. An evaluation applied to 88 square meters of space through air-temperature analysis. The tool used in this analysis was the FloEFD simulation software. The inputs required in setting up the FloEFD model are initial boundary conditions, ambient pressure and temperature, the estimated space heat load (assumed to be constant), and the roof module. Based on the results obtained, the indoor temperature depends on the boundary conditions or the outside environmental temperature. The indoor air temperature decreased an average of 2 ℃ from outdoor temperature with the initial conditions of 31 ℃ and room heat flux of 300 Watts/m² with a resultant air movement inside the room ranging from 0.217 m/s to 0.651 m/s. The insulating property of green-material utilized in the roofing system was instrumental in lowering the airgap exit temperature by an average of 4 ℃.

KEYWORDS
Air Temperature, FloEFD, Residential House, Roof, Simulation

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Estrella C. Macabutas , Alejandro F. Tongco , "Air Temperature Analysis of a Residential House Using Soliworks Flow Simulation," Civil Engineering and Architecture, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 792 - 800, 2020. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2020.080506.

(b). APA Format:
Estrella C. Macabutas , Alejandro F. Tongco (2020). Air Temperature Analysis of a Residential House Using Soliworks Flow Simulation. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 8(5), 792 - 800. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2020.080506.