A STUDY OF FAÇADE THERMAL PERFORMANCE FOR NON-AIR CONDITIONED RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

Abstract

In the tropics, indoor thermal environment is very critical especially for nonair- conditioned residential buildings. Fagade system is the 'skin' of the building, which separates the indoor and outdoor environment and is the most important part of the building to provide suitable thermal environment to the indoor space. In this study, the thermal fagade performance is studied from 3 aspects. Firstly, the albedo of commonly used fagade material was tested in the laboratory. Based on the test results, the impact of colour on albedo was studied. Besides this, through the use of TAS simulation software, the effect of colour on fagade external surface temperature in Singapore is investigated. Secondly, through the field measurements which were taken in non-airconditioned residential buildings in Singapore, the effect of orientation, building height and material types on fagade thermal performance were studied. The impact of the fagade on the indoor thermal comfort was also examined. Finally, by TAS simulations, the impact of solid wall U-value on fagade surface temperature, indoor mean radiation and indoor thermal comfort was studied. It is found that although the U-value of the wall can affect the wall internal surface temperature, it is not the only dominated factor affecting the indoor thermal comfort.