On the Profiling of Air Leakage Infiltration Pattern across Chinese Vernacular Buildings

The purpose of this paper is to provide understanding of the seasonal pattern of air leakage(infiltration)in Chinese vernacular buildings across China’s five climate regions.In achieving the set purpose,a grand extensive literature survey was conducted and supported with data drawn from established Meteonorm V6.1 on sensible heat and psychrometric variables.Numerical computations for normalized and specific infiltration from stack effects followed the Gowri method in line with ASHRAE reference 2004.Solar energy admittance into building followed Bouger’s model form Angstrom properties.From the distribution of vernacular buildings across five climate regions of China,evidence from computational and numerical values showed symmetries in terms of minimums and maximums times of occurrence.Further,a reciprocal pattern exists between solar radiative admittance and region’s temperature profile.Knowing that Chinese vernacular building heritage extended to further Asia,this research became limited to only the Chinese region.It became difficult to report if the construction culture away from China has correlation with infiltration and energy admittance value.Earlier works on Chinese climate and vernacular dwellings reported a climate responsive dwelling designed by passive cooling strategy;a gap was closed by extending the previous work to specific infiltration pattern and energy admittance level.Chinese vernacular buildings by virtue of research outcomes are and should be adoptable to modern housing needs for cultural integration.

Organization and evolution of climate responsive strategies,used in Turpan vernacular buildings in arid region of China

Under the global crisis of energy shortage and environmental pollution,the climate responsive strategies used in vernacular buildings have attracted much attention for their potential to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.However,the relationships between these traditional climatic strategies were not precisely perceived,which may cause the inapplicability of these strategies for contemporary rural houses.In this paper,taking the Turpan vernacular buildings in arid region of China,the climate responsive strategies of buildings in the most significant periods such as the Gaochang period(before 1318),the Khanate and Republican period(1318–1949),the Modern period(1949–2010),and the Contemporary period(2011–present)were summarized.In addition,two different types of climatic strategies organizations,namely multilayer spaces and integrated building envelopes,were identified based on the temperature difference measurement and comparative analysis.The assessment of thermal performance of the organizations was conducted by the methodology of software simulation.Furthermore,the applicability of the organizations in rural areas was discussed,and a new combined organization was proposed.Consequently,this study can contribute to provide the main approaches for climatically responsive rural houses.

Ecological strategy analysis of human habitation environment in Shanggantang traditional village,Hunan province,P.R.China

Based on the field survey of the traditional village in Shanggantang,Hunan province,P.R.China,we analyzed ecological strategies in aspects of the whole human habitation environment and vernacular building human habitation environment.The ecological strategies included adapting to the local climate,reducing source consumption,utilizing local materials and so on.The research is to provide a reference to practice and theoretical development of eco-folk houses in the area.