Vegetation insulation screen as a passive cooling system in hot humid climate: heat and mass exchanges

Abstract

Planted roofs are passive cooling techniques that reduce the thermal load of buildings. In this paper, a Dynamic mathematical model based ontime average Navier-Stokes equationsfor a plantedroof in hothumidclimates has beendeveloped for evaluating the cooling potential.Transfer equations are solved using a finite difference scheme and Thomas algorithm. The model was applied for the simulation of a planted roof in Togolese climate conditions. Results showed that, evapotranspiration and Solar Heat gain Factor are functions of the Leaf Area Index LAI which is the most important parameter when considering the foliage material. For LAI equal to 6, latent heat peak value reaches 900 W.m-2while that of sensible heat is around 350 W.m-2. Solar heat gain factor can bereducedto 15% fortheplantedroofagainst 45% forbareroof. It is clearly proved that the foliage density and hence the vegetation canopy type selection greatly influence the thermal efficiency of the bioclimatic insulation screen. A larger Leaf Area Index reduces the solar flux penetration and increases evapotranspiration which is an important parameter when considering surrounding microclimate formation.