Analysis of Thermal Performance of Naturally Ventilated Residential Building in Tropical Climate: Case Study of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Comfort of the building is one of the important factors that is hard to achieve for architects and engineers as it depends on both physic and psychological parameter. This paper discusses these two aspects on the thermal performance of residential building in context of hothumid climate. Three different types of residential buildings including townhouse, detached house and apartment building in Phnom Penh, Cambodia were chosen as the case studies. The analysis of thermal performance of each house is based on (a) the measurement of physical parameters (air temperature, relative humidity, air velocity), (b) occupants survey to compare with data from the measurement and (c) interview with the occupants to know about their satisfaction and sensation to the physical parameters. Impact of different designs of houses on thermal performance and the importance of influential physical parameters for tropical climate is analysed. Comparison of results to the Fanger’s model also indicate the importance of air velocity in thermal comfort for tropical region. The survey shows that in natural ventilation, women in their 20s to 30s feel comfortable with the temperature of 29 to 30°C and humidity of 73 to 75%.