English abstract
Globally, building sector contribute highly to energy consumption and
pollutant release in the form of πΆπΰ¬Ά emissions. The share of housing in energy
consumption increases as the residential construction sector is growing faster than
other buildings sectors in Oman and other GCC countries. This high percentage of
energy consumption and production not only raises the expense of building energy
but also has a negative influence on the environment. Native population has adopted
variety of techniques to improve thermal conditions in buildings. Courtyard, urban
layout, wall thickness etc. are examples of such techniques. Among those techniques
was the windcatcher which found in hot climates where it was necessary to cool the
space. In this research, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool is used to evaluate
the airflow in the windcatchers under various parameters. Those parameters are the
impacts of wind speeds and angles. In addition, different windcatcher designs were
carefully examined for a traditional building. The findings of this study give
windcatcher designers crucial knowledge on key design factors such as geometrical
and environmental factors. It was found that a four-sided windcatcher is better
compared to one-sided and two-sided windcatcher because of wind angles.
Furthermore, squared windcatcher with an X-blade configuration is the optimum
design for the studied location. In addition, blades can increase the average air velocity
of the windcatcher by 42% in a southwest wind. Although the windcatcher in the
traditional house was able to improve the Indoor Air Quality of the house, the πΆπΰ¬Ά
concentration is still high. However, adding more windcatchers in the house was able
to reduce it by more than 70% and return it to an acceptable level. Moreover, adding
a windcatcher in a modern house was able to enhance the thermal comfort, and reduce
the πΆπΰ¬Ά concentration. Results shows that a windcatcher constructed with an angle of
30 degree from the north able to increase the average air velocity inside the space
more than windcatcher rotated by 0, 45, and 60 degrees. The difference between
average air velocity inside the space without a windcatcher and within a windcatcher
with a rotation of 30 was found to be more than 55%. Although that the windcatcher
couldn't reach thermal comfort during the studied month, it was able to reduce the
πππΰ―₯ΰ―ΰ― by 6.9%, and the πππ·ΰ―₯ΰ―ΰ― by 10.7%. In addition, a windcatcher in a modern
house was able to reduce the πΆπΰ¬Ά concentration by 45% compared to a house without
windcatcher.
