The effect of thermal mass of building shell materials on the comfort of it’s inhabitants: The study oftraditional buildings of hot and dry region's of Iran

The shell structure, as the main intermediary between the outside and inside space,plays a fundamental role in the control of environmental conditions and providescomfort for the occupants of the building. Thereby produce the reduction of heatingand cooling loads. The use of appropriate materials for external walls of the buildingcan be considered as one of the easiest and the most effective ways of saving energyand reducing costs. Thermal mass of materials that are used in building play a majorrole in moderating the inside temperature of the building, especially where thedifference in temperature is too much during the day and different seasons. When thethermal mass of materials are accompanied by other factors such as appropriatedesign, ventilation and etc, they have the most influence. This study seeks to answerthe question about the factors that affect the performance over the improvement of thethermal mass of materials. The above research is followed by the study of thetraditional buildings of the hot and dry regions, which are considered as the bestexample of the thermal mass buildings, and by how the different elements together cancreate the comfort of their residents without using the special mechanical equipments.

کلیدواژه ها:

Thermal mass ، building materials ، thermal comfort ، traditional buildingsin hot and dry climates