No abstract

There exist many disasters, whether natural or caused by human factors. In emergency situations, it is important to provide shelters to protect the population and the support against their environment and to give them some privacy. Unfortunately, contexts and exposure constraints in which these items are used can be very different which implies that their performance can be reduced with a direct impact on occupant comfort. Furthermore, given the very large scale of emergency camps, the intake of fuel in winter condition turns into a major logistical challenge. It is crucial to improve the thermal performance of emergency shelters to 1) increase their indoor comfort and 2) reduce their fuel/wood consumption and related pressure on natural resources. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the difficulties in achieving a realistic thermal model of lightweight structures, taking into account the air permeability of fabrics, their light transmission and the imbrication of several element...