Investigation of the Novel Integration of Mashrabiya and Heat Transfer Devices for Buildings in Hot Climates

Abstract

This paper investigates the novel integration of heat transfer devices into a mashrabiya device to improve indoor thermal comfort conditions in buildings in hot climates. The benchmark case building model was validated using detailed wind tunnel data based on particle image velocimetry (PIV) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling results. Good agreement was observed between the modelling results and previous works data. Then, three configurations were evaluated: a) base case, b) single row of heat transfer devices, and c) double rows of heat transfer devices combined with the mashrabiya. The results of the building with mashrabiya indicated that the slats' inclination plays a vital role in the airflow distribution in the room, and this was evident with tilting the slats angle to +30° or -30°, as the airflow became more directed and sharper towards the ceiling or the floor. Also, as compared to the benchmark case, the mashrabiya contributed to increasing the airflow rate into the room. Overall, the addition of heat transfer devices decreased the temperature by up to 7.5°C (18.8%).