Naturally ventilated classrooms in developing countries: passive strategies for overheating mitigation

• Grant number: 24/21928-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: April 15, 2025
• End date: July 14, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Technology
• Principal Investigator: Leticia de Oliveira Neves
• Grantee: Eduarda Gonçalves Chaga
• Supervisor: Clarice Bleil de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FEC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Cardiff University, Wales
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/06743-0 - Resilience to climate change: thermal comfort strategies in naturally ventilated classrooms, BP.MS

Abstract

This research project aims to develop robust architectural design strategies to mitigate future scenarios of overheating in naturally ventilated classrooms in developing countries. Computer simulations of two public-school buildings located in Campinas, Brazil, will be performed, to analyse their thermal performance under future climate-change scenarios. Performance metrics (objective functions) and constraints will be defined for the building retrofit. Decision variables will then be selected, based on their significant impact on the objective functions. Global sensitivity analyses will be conducted to reduce the number of decision variables, identifying sensitive and uncorrelated variables with a sensitivity index greater than 0.05. The analysis will be further refined using the local sensitivity One-Factor-at-a-Time (OFAT) method to examine the correlation between sensitive variables and objective functions. The results analysis will focus on selecting optimal design solutions for extreme mid-term and long-term future scenarios, contributing to reducing overheating in naturally ventilated classrooms.