Work

Integrating a Solar Chimney into a Traditional Skywell Dwelling: A New Climate-Adaptive Retrofit Design Approach

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Traditional skywell dwellings embody climate-responsive passive design but may remain hot and humid under low-wind summer conditions, requiring passive-ventilation retrofits while preserving their spatial organization. Skywell performance and component-level solar chimneys are comparatively well studied, but their direct integration in traditional multi-room dwellings remains at an early stage. This study develops a climate-adaptive retrofit design approach that integrates a solar chimney with the existing skywell of a traditional rammed-earth dwelling in Songyang, China. Field monitoring showed that mean relative humidity exceeded 90% at all five indoor locations. An EnergyPlus Airflow Network model was calibrated against hourly temperatures from four rooms, yielding RMSE values of 0.33–0.91 °C, with 84.8% of predictions within ±1 °C. The calibrated model was used to compare the baseline and retrofit configurations during a selected 72 h hot period and across the full summer, while the 2000-configuration parametric study retained the 72 h window. During the selected period, the retrofit lowered the simulated operative temperature in all 432 paired hourly comparisons, with a mean reduction of 1.73 °C. Across the full summer, it produced lower operative temperature in 94.7% of 13,248 paired hourly comparisons, with a comparable mean reduction of 1.67 °C, and increased the percentage of hours within the adaptive comfort band from 33.9% to 52.0%. The first-floor hall showed the largest cooling benefit, whereas the second-floor rooms were more responsive to changes in vertical chimney geometry. Overall chimney height and outlet opening height jointly accounted for 85.19–95.09% of random forest feature importance. The collector glazing parameters were more influential in the skywell–chimney zone. These findings support a design hierarchy that prioritizes airflow continuity and vertical exhaust geometry before collector glazing, providing a quantitative basis for solar chimney retrofits that preserve spatial organization of traditional skywell dwellings.

Source: Buildings

DOI: 10.3390/buildings16173462

Authors: Linxue Li, Jinhao Liu, Qi Zhang, Guangyi Zhang, Simin Tao

Institutions: Tongji University, University of Lisbon

Language: English

Topic: Solar Energy Systems and Technologies

Subfield: Building and Construction

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Affordable and clean energy, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137