Study on the thermal performance of the Chinese traditional vernacular dwellings in Summer

Based on the field measurements of the thermal environment parameters and a long-term auto-recorder of the indoor and outdoor temperature at four typical traditional vernacular dwellings at Wannan area in summer, some wrong viewpoints about Chinese traditional vernacular dwellings are clarified. Also, with the analysis of the fine structures design such as the dooryard, the structure of the double-pitched roof and the eaves by the measurements of temperature, wind velocity, etc. some design principles of the traditional vernacular dwellings in Wannan area are revealed, of which sun shading and insulation are of great importance while the natural ventilation is just considered as an auxiliary approach. So the strategy of ventilation design is to restrain the natural ventilation at daytime and to boost it at night. Moreover, the thermal sensation votes (TSV) of the occupants and the predicted mean votes (PMV) are compared and the evaluation standard in a naturally ventilated environment is also discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.