Classrooms are long-term environments, in which thermal comfort is essential for a good teaching and learning process. This research presents 16 natural ventilation strategies for classrooms related to energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and the quality of natural ventilation, for regions with a humid subtropical climate, represented by the Brazilian city of Santa Maria. Computer simulations were carried out with the Ansys CFX and EnergyPlus software, in addition to thermal comfort criteria recommended by the adaptive model of ASHRAE 55/2017, where the hours spent in thermal comfort, degree-hours of discomfort, indoor air velocity, air renewal rates, and air humidity were analyzed. The results indicate the most favorable natural ventilation strategies for classrooms located in a developing country in a humid subtropical climate, showing that these can contribute to the improvement of the quality of natural ventilation compared to the conventional constructive solutions used with simple strategies.
Part of the book: Cooling Technologies