Learning from Chinese traditional architecture: field test and CFD modelling of ventilation enhancement techniques in southern Chinese houses

Abstract A traditional residence is not only a symbol of historic wisdom, but also represents the development of superior building experience. The weather in regions south of the Yangtze River is wet and hot; therefore, the local people have taken many effective measures to improve their indoor environment, such as the reasonable layout of windows, the effect of double pitch roofs and the effect of patio. This paper studied such natural ventilation measures, learning ventilation enhancement techniques from Chinese traditional architecture. The paper takes both a Chinese traditional architecture Shangzhi Tang and a typical modern building as research objects. A detailed field test was conducted and a series of evaluation indexes such as indoor and outdoor air temperature, relative humidity, and air velocities have been analysed. In addition, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software was utilized to simulate the air distribution for both building types.