Thermal performance of the horizontal opening in the traditional houses of old Biskra. Case of traditional house at Bab Edarb

Abstract

This research aims to revive a traditional architecture heritage of Biskra, which is thehorizontal opening in the roof of the "wast edar" named “raouzna". In order to evaluate thethermal performance of this element and measure its ability to control the distribution of interiortemperature in a region submitted to a hot and dry climate, an experimental study by numericalsimulation was carried out. DEROB-LTH program was used to perform the work of simulationwhich focused on one set of constant and variable factors. These factors are related to climatedata, thermal’s comfort zone and to the dimensions and shape of the raouzna. Some of the dataused for the simulation are based on the results of a typo-morphological analysis of a corpus oftraditional houses and a survey carried out upstream in the quarter of Bab Edarb (old Biskra). Thestudy focuses on the comparison between the recorded temperature inside the traditional houseand the outside air, and for periods critical of winter and summer represented respectively by thecoldest month and hottest: January and July.