Thermal Performance of Building Envelops

This article presents an assessment of the building envelop thermal performance with respect to naturally ventilated buildings in a tropical climate. An overview of thermal comfort characterization methods has been presented. Thermal performance of building envelops has been demonstrated through real-time field studies in residential buildings. The effect of boundary conditions, thermo-physical properties of building envelop, and operational patterns of the indoor thermal comfort have been discussed. A set of parametric simulation studies has been presented in order to discuss the effects of various envelop parameters influencing indoor thermal comfort. The effect of thermal inertia on indoor comfort in naturally ventilated buildings has been highlighted. Methodology for estimating dynamic thermal criteria for building envelops has been presented. Scope of simple empirical indices to predict indoor thermal comfort has also been discussed.