Modelling of surface and inner wall temperatures in the analysis of courtyard thermal performances in Mediterranean climates

Abstract

Courtyards are an effective passive strategy for improving the energy performance of buildings. However, there is a lack of accurate simulation tools for their thermal performance due to their complex thermodynamics. This paper’s contribution is the coupling of a CFD model with a system of differential equations at the walls, governing surface and inner wall temperatures, providing an accurate computation of courtyard thermal performance. On this basis, boundary conditions for the standard Boussinesq equations governing temperatures, wind velocity, and pressure within the courtyard are established. Modelling results are compared with monitored data in two days of different months in a courtyard in Seville (Spain). Simultaneously, simulations carried out by existing software were performed. Resulting data showed more accuracy than existing tools, with a Root Mean Square Error of 1.19 (August) and 1.59 (October), while the corresponding values with ENVI-met were 3.31-3.4, and with Ladybug Tools 2.59-4.49.

KEYWORDS:

• Courtyards
• ENVI-met
• numerical model
• model evaluation
• microclimate simulation

Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank AEMET (Agencia Estatal de Metereología, State Meteorological Agency. Spanish Government) for the data supplied.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (MTM2015-64577-C2-1-R/ MTM2015-64577-C2-2-R) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RTI2018-093521-B-C31/RTI2018-093521-B-C33). This publication was partially supported by Universidad de Sevilla (VI Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia, IUACC 2020) . The authors thank the financial support of the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte via a pre-doctoral contract granted to V.P. L-C. [grant number FPU17/05036].