Performance of roof and ceiling systems in tropical thermal environment

Abstract

The roof of a building is normally considered to be the covering on its top or the form that crowns it and may manifest it self in any shape or form. However depending on whether a roof is experienced from within an architectural space or with out perception of it can differ. From out side roof implies the crowing from described above , once in side given space it may be perceived as top most covering of the building or the ceiling of that immediately space. Among the building envelop elements, the thermal importance of roof in tropical buildings is immense. Due to the sun angles in the tropics, roofs are exposed to the sun more often than the walls. The solar altitudes in the lower tropics in particular are so high that all slopes of all roofs are exposed to the sun virtually from sun rise to sunset (Fig. 1a ) .Thus, climate - conscious building designers in the tropics refer the role roof plays in sun protection as the "Roof Problems"(Cf. Knigsberger & Lynn, 1965: 7ff)