The Effect of Roof Openings on Passive Cooling in Mosque Interiors

ABSTRACT It is known that the energy needs of a naturally ventilated building consume 40% less energy than a mechanically ventilated building. Especially in summer months, the energy needs of mosques increase greatly due to cooling loads. The aim of the study is to provide passive cooling with the stack effect by taking advantage of the large floor height of mosques compared to other buildings and to evaluate the effect of the number of roof openings on passive cooling. Within the scope of the study, a prototype mosque was designed in line with general practices and regulations in Türkiye. Two different opening alternatives were created. In the first alternative, air outlets are created as a single large opening. In the second alternative, the number of openings was increased to four, but the air outlet size remained the same in total. The two prepared alternatives were transferred to ANSYS Fluent software. In this way, the passive cooling of the building was visualized through simulation. The temperature and velocity contour graphs were created as a result of the analysis. According to the results, the alternative in which more than one roof opening was designed, provided better passive cooling than the alternative with a single opening.