SIMULAÇÃO COMPUTACIONAL COMOFERRAMENTA NA AVALIAÇÃO DO CONFORTO TÉRMICO DE SALAS DE AULA NO CONTEXTO CLIMÁTICO DE BRASÍLIA

Abstract

Natural ventilation and artificial air conditioning are strategies commonly used to provide thermal comfort and healthiness. Classrooms are spaces in which the activities performed demand concentration and focus, and thermal comfort should be an ally to deliver a greater feeling of satisfaction and wellbeing, which directly influences the student's productivity. Considering these issues, a field study was carried out to evaluate the thermal comfort of classrooms at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Brasilia, Federal District, one naturally ventilated and the other artificially conditioned, in order to determine how many hours of comfort these spaces have over a period of one year. For this purpose, these classrooms were monitored during two different seasons of the year for a period of ten days each, one in September 2020, characterized as hot and dry, and the second in the month of February 2021, characterized as hot and humid. After the on-site survey of the internal thermal variables collected by the specific measuring devices, computer simulations were made using the Design Builder software version 5.4.0.21 2018. Based on the data obtained from the simulations, a percentage of hours of comfort in each classroom was calculated in compliance with the acceptability criteria of ASHRAE 55. The naturally ventilated classroom provides thermal comfort during 84,25% of the hours measured, and the remaining hours are discomfort hours due to heat. On the other hand, the artificially conditioned classroom provides thermal comfort 100% of the time, yet it has insufficient air renewal rates for healthy environment standards.