A Base Line Study for Improving the Environmental Performance of Demountable Classrooms A Case Study of New South Wales, Australia

DOI: 10.5176/2301-394X_ACE15.115

Authors: Ben Slee & Richard Hyde

Abstract:

This paper describes a Base Line approach to improving the environmental performance using a mixed method approach using techniques such as digital thermal model for simulation the dynamic behaviour of a demountable classroom in NSW. Demountable classrooms account for 12{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} of all NSW government classrooms and internal environmental conditions are important from an educational and economic perspective. The simulation has shown that the largest thermal energy input is from the incident solar radiation. An analysis of predicted thermal comfort using the adaptive comfort method shows that the internal conditions closely follow the local climate but that the classrooms are, overall, warmer than the external conditions during occupied hours in five NSW climates.

Keywords: Digital Simulation, Thermal perforamnce, Demountable buildings, Classrooms