Evaluation of thermal comfort and energy usage for an enclosed cavity indifferent climatic zones of India

Abstract

The utilization of energy in building sectors comprises 30–40% of the entire global energy consumption. Most of the energy is being utilized for cooling & heating the buildings. These cooling and heating depend on the nature of climate for different places. In this, the detailed analysis of the building envelope across five areas (viz. Srinagar, Jaisalmer, New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore) representing different climatic zones had been carried out. Simulations are performed for these locations using eQUEST and ANSYS software. Three of the result output from the eQUEST simulation are used to assess the different cases. These outputs are: Total electrical energy consumption of the year, peak cooling load & peak heating load for a particular time of the year. Temperature variations and airflow for a fan with moisture influence are also simulated for five different locations by using the radiation model and shear stress transport in ANSYS. The internal temperature distribution in accordance with an occupant is also compared and discussed for the five regions. Lastly, the predicted mean vote and predicted percentage of dissatisfaction are found to be in the range of −0.50 to −0.99 for all zones that signifies 13% to 30% of people are dissatisfied with the indoor environment.