Diagnosing thermal behaviour of the administration block of the University of Colombo for retrofitting passive design strategies

Abstract

Existing non-domestic buildings in developing countries account for a substantial percentage of energy usage for indoor climate control and therefore contribute to carbon dioxide emissions. High levels of air temperatures associated with radiation in warm-humid climates contribute to heat gain and thus indoor overheating conditions and indoor thermal discomfort. These trends have contributed to introducing active systems in building operation resulting in increase of energy consumption. The method used in the study involved on site investigations of thermal behavior of commercial office buildings in urban warm humid climates in Sri Lanka. Literature showing that thermal behavior of building microclimates, form and envelope are important design variables which can act as modifiers of outdoor climate into favorable indoor climates in buildings. The study evaluates the potential of these variables in maintaining indoor thermal comfort. Based on the thermal analysis of the building and immediate surroundings a retrofitting proposal was developed to improve building thermal performance