Impact of urban geometry on indoor air temperature and cooling energy consumption in traditional and formal urban environments

Abstract

This study explores the effect of outdoor microclimatic environment on indoor conditions in a tropical warm-humid climate. An indoor air temperature and building energy performance analysis is carried out for the real case-study areas to examine the impact of urban geometry on building indoor conditions. The study incorporates microclimatic data from CFD, micro-climatic tool ENVI-met into building energy performance analysis using IES-VE. Findings reveal that diversity in urban geometry in deep urban canyons is helpful in reducing the indoor air temperature and cooling load. On average, cooling load in model rooms in the formal area is 21% higher for 1st floors (40% for top floors) compared to the corresponding rooms in the traditional area. In terms of solar gains, the difference was 30% for the 1st floors and 91% for the top floors, with rooms in the formal area having the higher ranges. Furthermore, the room air temperature in the traditional area was found to be 0.6-1.6 Deg C lower than those in the formal area.