Building regulation and thermal comfort: the opening typology influence on natural cooling inside office buildings in Maceió

The opening typology influences the ventilation of the rooms offering more or less resistance to the airflow. The Building Regulation of Maceio of 1985 determines the minimum openings area based on the floor’s area, as 1/6 for light and 1/12 for ventilation. These items have a straight influence on the air flow pattern inside the rooms, as well as on the users’ thermal comfort. The aim of this study is to investigate three different openings typology in office buildings in Maceio city (sash, top hung and vertical pivot window) with open area based on the Building Regulation. Computational simulations where realized with PHOENICS 3.6 software on a typical office building.