A Preliminary Study of Thermal Comfort in Malaysia’s Single Storey Terraced Houses

In a tropical climate, passive cooling is difficult to achieve with respect to mass housing design. A good house design keeps the indoor environment favorable and comfortable during most of the year without the use of any mechanical devices. Terraced houses are typical examples with low comfort problem that need particular consideration. Low air velocity and high air temperature are experienced during the daytime and the wind effect is not well captured, especially in the single sided ventilation. Use of natural ventilation has been increasingly examined as an energy-efficient means to provide thermal comfort as well as a healthy indoor environment. This paper discusses the validation of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) results and the measurement of thermal comfort in Malaysia’s single storey terraced houses. The thermal environment and comfort conditions were investigated using field measurement and CFD technique. Validation of CFD FloVent was carried out through the comparison of field measurements. Comparison of the results between simulations and measurements illustrated a good agreement. The simulations were performed on a selected day in a one-year climate condition. The results indicated that the design of single storey terraced houses is not effective in providing natural ventilation for achieving thermal comfort. The microclimate condition surrounding the terraced house indicated very low wind speed. Therefore, modification of the natural ventilation mechanism using a solar chimney as induced ventilation needs to be manifested and evaluated.