Building Science I

Syllabus

1. Introduction to Building Science (2 hours)
   1. Importance of building science
   2. Application of building science for comfort and security in buildings and the built-up environment
2. Climatology (15 hours)
   1. Concepts of climatology: objectives, climate and weather, micro and macro, primary and secondary climatic factors, types of climates and climate change
   2. Solar radiation: types, absorption and reflection, geometry of solar movement, solar chart
   3. Designing with solar radiation: control techniques, internal and external shading devices, shadow angles and design of external shading devices
3. Thermal Aspects (14 hours)
   1. Concept of thermal aspects: heat transmission, thermal properties, resistivity, conductivity and transmittance, sol-air temperature
   2. Heat exchange in a building: heat gain and loss, thermal balance, thermal transmittance, time lag and decrement factor
   3. Thermal comfort and thermal control techniques for hot and cool climates, insulation techniques
4. Different Shelters for Different Climates (6 hours)
   1. Shelters in the Terai, hilly and mountain regions of Nepal
   2. Shelters in warm humid, hot arid, composite and cold climates of the world
5. Building Design and Town Planning According to By-laws (2 hours)
6. Building Design in Different Conditions (4 hours)
   1. Building design with respect to wind movement and natural ventilation
   2. Building design in high and low humidity
   3. Condensation and its prevention
7. Internal Comfort (2 hours)
   1. Physical, visual, thermal and psychological comfort

Practicals

Fifteen hours of tutorials: study of weather records, calculation of solar and shadow angles from solar chart, calculation of thermal transmittance of composite walls, study of annual temperature graphs and comfort ranges, and case study of vernacular shelters in different climatic zones of Nepal with report preparation.