Jumawan, Hazel U. <br/><br/>
Analysing the passive cooling performance of natural ventilation system design mimicked from solar-powered African termite mounds for varied building configurations / 
Hazel U. Jumawan; Jean Marie V. Juanga, adviser 
 -  2020 
 - 338 leaves 
<br/><br/> Urban development is accompanied by large-scale construction of<br/>midrise and high-rise projects. Along with this is the need to power these<br/>buildings, most often through mechanical means. Consequently, the building<br/>and construction industry are accountable for 36% of the global energy<br/>consumption and 40% of CO2 emissions.<br/>This study aims to address this issue through exploring the application<br/>of a biomimetic approach to building ventilation. The concept of biomimicry<br/>has come from the concept that nature has confronted similar problems<br/>faced by the human society, and it has created sustainable solutions that<br/>have been filtered through millions of years of evolution. The main objective<br/>of the study is to analyze the efficiency of a natural ventilation system design<br/>inspired from the solar-powered African termite mounds (ATM) for varied<br/>building configurations using a computer simulation software (IES VE 2019).<br/>The simulation results of the study show that air movement in the<br/>ATM-inspired natural ventilation system design did not coincide with the<br/>expected results following the solar heat-driven ventilation mechanism in<br/>termite mounds. The results of the CFD simulation for interior wind velocity<br/>show that there are slower wind velocities in the ATM-inspired simulation<br/>models compared to the conventional model, from 0 to 0.55 mLs and greater<br/>than 1.2 mLs in some areas. The operative temperature in the interior<br/>hallways of the ATM-inspired design models are significantly lower than<br/>those in the conventional model.<br/>From the data gathered, it can be concluded that the diurnal thermal<br/>cycles of air flow in African termite mound do not occur similarly in midrise<br/>and high-rise buildings incorporated with ventilation system inspired from<br/>African termite mounds. Although interior wind velocity is greater in the<br/>conventional models for all building footprints, the ATM-inspired natural<br/>ventilation system design resulted to lower temperatures in the interior<br/>hallways of the building with no exterior openings. 
<br/><br/><label>Index Terms--Curriculum Objective: </label><br/>Architectural Design IX: Research Project in Architecture--ARCH191<br/>Architectural design X: Architectural Design Project--ARCH192