Modeling of Heat Transfer in a Habitat Built in Local Materials in Dry Tropical Climate

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Résumé

A numerical modeling of heat transfer in a habitat whose walls are in local materials (compressedearth blocks) is presented. The transfer equations based on the nodal method are solved by animplicit finite difference method and the Gauss algorithm coupled to an iterative procedure. It wasanalyzed the influence of the rate of air exchange, the thickness of the walls and the nature of thematerials of which they are composed on the spatio-temporal distributions of the temperature of theair inside the habitat and those of its walls. The results show that the temperature inside habitatswhose walls are made of local materials (earthen materials) is lower than that of modern habitats(cement blocks). The increase in the thickness of the walls contributes to a better thermal inertia ofthe habitat by improving the decrement factor and the time lag difference between the inside andthe outside. Also, over-ventilation of a habitat with high inertia has a negative impact on itsperformance during the hottest periods.

Mots-clés

Thermal inertia; ventilation; time lag; decrement factor; thermal modeling