Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 11531160

www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

Thermal performance of insulated roof slabs in tropical climates

R.U. Halwatura 1, M.T.R. Jayasinghe *
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Received 14 March 2007; received in revised form 5 September 2007; accepted 2 October 2007

Abstract
Reinforced concrete roof slabs can be an ideal alternative to traditional roofs considering the better cyclone resistance that can be offered due to
the self weight. However, the concrete slabs do not perform satisfactorily in warm humid tropical climatic conditions and tend to act as heated
bodies for the occupants in free running spaces. As a solution, a robust roof slab insulation system is proposed and its thermal performance was
determined experimentally using small and large-scale models. With comfort models developed for the people acclimatized to tropical climatic
conditions, it is shown that insulated roof slabs could provide acceptable indoor conditions while providing many valuable benefits such as cyclone
resistance, regaining of land lost for the house and the possibility of creation of roof top gardens.
# 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Roof slabs; Resistive insulation; Cyclone resistant construction

1. Introduction
Tropical climatic conditions prevail in many countries
located close to the equator. The main features of tropical
climates are the high humidity throughout the year coupled
with low diurnal temperature variations. Heavy rainfall during
monsoon periods is also possible which promotes vegetation.
Most of the countries with tropical climatic conditions in Asia
are experiencing rapid development. This has led to higher
energy demand for transportation and thermal comfort in recent
years. To curb the thermal discomfort associated with built
environments, the use of air conditioning is gradually become a
fashion due to affordability resulting from improved economic
standards and reduced capital cost of air conditioners [1]. This
is not a desirable situation in long term, since any increase in the
use of electricity generated using fossil fuels can increase green
house gas emissions. This can further aggravate the global
warming potential. Therefore, the promotion of passive
techniques that can allow free running buildings or minimize
the need for air conditioning is becoming important.
Many natural disasters that occurred in the recent past have
created another need for built environments. The tropical

cyclones in USA in year 2005 and tsunami in Asia in year 2004

indicated the destructiveness of forces of nature at certain times.
It also indicated the need to have disaster resistant built
environments since collapsed buildings can injure and kill people
while needing rebuilding. Since most of the building materials
have significant amounts of embodied energy associated with
manufacturing and transportation [2], it is useful to ensure that
the built environments can withstand disasters with minimum
damage. Any rebuilding of damaged infrastructure means
repeated usage of embodied energy. Thus, disaster resistant
built environments can indirectly assist in reducing the green
house gas emissions. Therefore, the passive features included in
houses, if possible, should enhance the disaster resistance.
The Asian countries located close to the equator are
susceptible to be hit by tropical cyclones. The cyclonic conditions
can easily affect most of the roofing materials. One of the
exceptions is the reinforced concrete roof slab due to its weight.
However, such roof slabs tend to perform poorly in tropical
climatic conditions as far as thermal comfort is concerned. This
paper describes a detailed study carried out on the thermal
performance of reinforced concrete roof slabs provided with
resistive insulation located in warm humid climatic conditions.
2. Objectives

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +94 11 2650567/38 2238545;

fax: +94 11 2650622/2651216.
E-mail addresses: rangika@civil.mrt.ac.lk (R.U. Halwatura),
thishan@civil.mrt.ac.lk (M.T.R. Jayasinghe).
1
Tel.: +94 11 2650567/34 2221386; fax: +94 11 2650622/2651216.
0378-7788/$ see front matter # 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2007.10.006

The main objectives of this research are to develop a robust

insulation system and to assess the effectiveness of roof slab
insulation in warm humid tropical climatic conditions.

1154

R.U. Halwatura, M.T.R. Jayasinghe / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 11531160

3. Methodology
The following methodology was used for achieving the
above objectives:
(a) Different resistive insulation thicknesses were tested with
models to determine the desirable insulation arrangements.
(b) A large-scale model was made and tested to determine the
actual indoor performance in free running situations.
(c) The comfort models were used to determine the acceptability of resulting indoor conditions by the people
acclimatized to the tropical conditions.

infrared radiation towards the occupants. This can continue

during the night as well due to the heat capacity of the reinforced
concrete slab. The heat energy absorbed can cause thermal
expansion in the slab that may lead to cracks in the supporting
structure primarily consisting of load bearing masonry materials
such as brick work or block work. This means that roof slabs will
need a suitable insulation system, which can allow unrestricted
access while solving the above problems.
If access can be allowed without restrictions, the roof slabs
can be used to regain the land lost for the house as a roof top
garden. The existence of a flat top will allow vegetation at roof
level thus facilitating the creation of desirable micro climatic
conditions further [6,7].

4. The use of reinforced concrete slabs as roof

5. The effect of insulation thickness
The scarcity of buildable lands in suburbs of large cities is
forcing the use of small plots for housing. For example, blocks
of extent 150 m2 and above are allowed in Sri Lanka for
residential buildings [3]. Even in Australia, small blocks of
200 m2 are increasingly used for detached houses despite the
availability of vast extents land [4]. This trend has promoted the
use of multi-story (two or three story) houses on small blocks of
land. The land saved can ideally be used for vegetation thus
creating a desirable microclimate in high density residential
developments [5].
In countries with tropical climatic conditions, the use of
reinforced concrete for floor slabs is much more popular than in
countries like USA, United Kingdom and Australia. One of the
main reasons is the existence of a termite-infested belt in the
Asian region that can affect timber in climatic conditions of
high humidity. Another is the availability and cost effectiveness
of the natural resources needed for concrete. This offers an ideal
opportunity to use reinforced concrete slabs for roof as well
instead of light weight roofing materials. Such slabs will be able
to resist cyclone induced forces very well since the weight of
the slab will be much more than the uplifting forces generated
by the cyclones.
However, the exposed roof slabs can transmit a considerable
amount of heat inwards thus making the indoors unpleasant
during the daytime. The prevalence of high soffit temperature
will allow it to act as a heated body thus emitting long wave

The tropical climatic conditions have few special features.

Due to close proximity to the equator, the day remains with
almost equal day and nighttimes throughout the year. The hours
of intense sunlight will be only over about 68 h where the
intensity can reach 8001000 W/m2. The out door maximum
daytime air temperature reaches about 3032 8C with a
possibility to rise to about 35 8C only for few days in a year.
The nighttime temperature could drop to about 2225 8C.
These conditions can be considered as somewhat desirable than
that would occur in Middle East countries with hot dry climatic
conditions [8]. These indicate that the development of an
effective insulation system should not be a difficult task for the
tropical climatic conditions. Some average climatic data
pertaining to Colombo, Sri Lanka (latitude of 78N and
longitude of 798E) are presented in Table 1.
5.1. The experimental setup
In order to determine the effect of insulation thickness, four
models were constructed as shown in Fig. 1. One was without
insulation (Case 1). Others had 25 mm (Case 2), 38 mm (Case 3)
and 50 mm (Case 4) thicknesses. In order to ensure access
without restrictions for various activities, the insulation was
covered with a 40 m thick screed concrete as shown in Fig. 2. In
order to support the screed, the insulation is broken into

Table 1
Climatic data for Colombo, Sri Lanka
Month

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Sunshine
(h/day)

Average rainfall
(mm/month)

Mean daily temperature

Max (around 14:00 h)

Min (around 6:00 h)

Min (around 14:00 h)

Minimum and maximum relative humidity (%)

Max (around 6:00 h)

7.5
8.2
8.8
7.9
6.2
6.6
6.1
6.5
6.4
6.2
6.8
6.9

87.9
96.0
117.6
259.8
352.6
211.6
139.7
123.7
153.4
354.1
324.4
174.8

30.3
30.6
31.0
31.1
30.6
29.6
29.3
29.4
29.6
29.4
29.6
29.8

22.2
22.3
23.3
24.3
25.3
25.2
24.9
25.0
24.7
23.8
22.9
22.4

58
59
64
68
72
73
70
65
67
70
67
61

90
92
94
95
92
93
90
90
91
92
93
91

R.U. Halwatura, M.T.R. Jayasinghe / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 11531160

1155

Fig. 3. Laying of 500 mm  500 mm insulation panels with a 40 mm gap.

Fig. 1. Arrangement of small-scale models.

range. Sensitivity is approximately 41 mV/8C. During programming, each channel of the data logger can be set up for
sensor type and range, conversion factor, logging frequency (1 s
to 24 h) and valid reading range. Logged data was stored in
battery-backed RAM, with capacity for 64 k readings.
5.2. The results

Fig. 2. The details of the insulation system.

500 mm  500 mm square panels with a 40 mm separation as

shown in Fig. 3. Thus, there will be a narrow strip of concrete of
40 mm width between 500 mm  500 mm insulation panels.
These narrow concrete strips can reduce the effectiveness of the
insulation system to a certain extent, but would provide an ideal
support for the concrete. The insulation used was expanded
cellular polyethylene. It has a thermal conductivity of 0.034 W/
K m2.
Since the thermal measurements were needed continuously,
Type K thermocouples were used to measure the temperatures.
Type K thermocouples are available in the 200 to +1200 8C

There are two important parameters that can affect the indoor
comfort at the top floor of a free running building. They are the
ceiling temperature (soffit temperature in the case of roof slab)
and the amount of heat transmitted through the ceiling. These two
are interconnected in the case of a roof slab. The heat flow will
depend on the air to air resistivity of the roof slab and the
temperature gradient which depends on the roof top and soffit
temperatures. The soffit temperatures observed for the four cases
in a day with bright cloudless sky are given in Chart 1.
Chart 1 clearly indicates that resistive insulation can be very
effective in reducing the soffit temperature. Without insulation,
the soffit temperature reached about 42 8C. This indicates that
the roof slab soffit can act as a heated body and would not allow
the use of the building as free running with acceptable level of
thermal comfort. The resistive insulation can have a significant
influence in reducing the soffit temperature. The maximum
value recorded was about 33 8C for 25 mm insulation and 32 8C

Chart 1. Soffit temperature distribution for different insulation thicknesses.

1156

R.U. Halwatura, M.T.R. Jayasinghe / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 11531160

Chart 2. Heat flow values for different insulation thicknesses.

for 50 mm insulation. This soffit temperature achieved with

insulation may offer better possibilities for free running built
environments at top floor since it differ only slightly from the
outdoor maximum temperature.
The approximate heat flow that can be expected for four
cases are given in Chart 2. These values were calculated using
soffit temperature and air to air resistivity. The air to air
resistivity of the roof slabs have been estimated as 0.99, 1.37,
1.71, 0.25 m2 K/W for 25 mm, 38 mm, 50 mm and without
insulation, respectively. The corresponding U values are
1.01, 0.73, 0.58, 4.0 W/m2 K (specimen calculation given in
Appendix B). Chart 2 indicates a significant drop in heat flow
with insulation.
6. The thermal performance with a larger model

6.2. The temperature measurements

It was not possible to have a comparison for a given day with
and without insulation since the modifications were carried using
only one model. In order to facilitate some comparison, the
temperature measurements were taken over a number of days
prior to the application of modifications. In a warm sunny day, the
soffit temperature reached a maximum value of 45 8C with the
roof top temperature reaching 55 8C. After the installation of
25 mm of insulation, the soffit temperature remained below
35 8C when the roof top temperature reached 55 8C as shown in
Chart 3. This clearly indicated that roof insulation is working
effectively even though the resistive insulation thickness was
only 25 mm. Fig. 2 indicates the components of the insulation,
water proofing and protective screed system used to facilitate the
access without any restriction.

6.1. The model

6.3. The robustness of screed concrete
Since the smaller models may have some influence of the
boundaries, a larger model was created. The model was a small
building intended for storage of various laboratory equipment
as shown in Fig. 4. It has plastered one brick thick walls and a
reinforced concrete slab as the roof. The roof slab thickness was
125 mm. It was not provided with any insulation. This allowed
gathering of some useful temperature data prior to the
installation of insulation system.

It should be noted that the use of strip of concrete between

insulation panels to support the 40 mm protective screed can
improve the load carrying capacity significantly while
minimizing any possibility for developing cracks that can
subsequently lead to leakage of water. In order to determine the
actual load capacity, loads were applied at the centre of a panel
through the screed. It needed a load of 4.0 tonnes to initiate
cracks. This exceeds the point load requirement specified in BS
6399:Part 1 1996 [9] for slabs with access. This includes that
the screed concrete can easily support the maximum load of
5 kN/m2 that can be expected due to crowd loading. Therefore,
there is no need to have any restriction for access.
6.4. The thermal expansion

Fig. 4. Large-scale model.

The thermal expansion is a serious problem for roof slabs

since it can cause serious cracking on walls. However, the
presence of 40 mm thick reinforced concrete screed can confine
the expansion primarily to the screed while minimizing the
expansion of the roof slab. The temperature measurements
taken at the top and the bottom screed and top and bottom of the
reinforced concrete slab are presented in Chart 4. It can be seen
that the roof top temperature reached about 64 8C in this

R.U. Halwatura, M.T.R. Jayasinghe / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 11531160

1157

Chart 3. Temperature variation with 25 mm slab insulations in a day with bright sunlight.

particular day with plenty of direct solar radiation. The

temperature at the bottom surface is an indication of the direct
expansion that can be expected. The bottom temperature value
in the screed has risen to about 48 8C. The soffit temperature of
the reinforced concrete slab remained at about 35 8C. The
temperature readings taken prior to the installation of insulation
indicated a maximum soffit temperature of 45 8C when the top
temperature was 55 8C. This indicates that the tendency for
thermal expansion can be shifted from the roof slab to the
screed in the insulation system proposed.
7. The feasibility of free running spaces
In warm humid tropical climactic conditions, the absence of
heated bodies is very important to provide thermal comfort
during the daytime where the outdoor temperatures rise to a
reasonably high level. In this context, the use of roof slab
resistive insulation is very important to ensure that the soffit
temperature will remain at a sufficiently low level. The soffit
temperatures can be compared with the allowable range for a
free running building once the allowable range is established.
According to Szokolay [10], the neutrality temperature can
be calculated using the mean climatic data Tn = 0.31To + 17.6,

where To is the mean temperature. This relationship, which is

based on many comfort survey results, will take account of
acclimatization of the people to a given climate. It is assumed
that there will not be any heated surface such as roof, ceiling or
walls close to the occupants. Mallik [1] also indicated the
applicability of Tn found using above equation for tropical
climatic conditions prevailing in Bangladesh. The same
equation was validated by Soyigh and Marafia [11] for the
determination of neutrality temperature for summer conditions
which could be similar to tropical conditions.
The neutrality temperature on monthly basis is given in
Table 2. It indicates that there is only a minor variation in
neutrality temperature throughout the year. This is in contrast to
higher latitudes where the neutrality temperature could change
on monthly basis, since people tend to respond to the seasonal
changes of the climate [12]. For example, it was shown by
Laxmore et al. [4] that for Ipswich in Australia, Tn can vary
between 22 and 25.5 8C.
For warm humid climatic conditions prevailing in Sri Lanka,
an average neutrality temperature of about 26.0 8C can be used
as shown in Table 2. It was reported by de Dear and Bragar [13]
that about 80% of the people would be thermally comfortable
within a band of 7 8C about the neutrality temperature in free

Chart 4. Surface temperatures for 25 mm insulation system.

1158

R.U. Halwatura, M.T.R. Jayasinghe / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 11531160

Table 2
Neutrality temperature for Colombo on monthly basis
Month

Monthly mean
temperature, To

Monthly neutral
temperature, Tn

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

26.3
26.5
27.2
27.7
28.0
27.4
27.1
27.2
27.2
26.6
26.3
26.1

25.7
25.8
26.0
26.2
26.3
26.1
26.0
26.0
26.0
25.8
25.7
25.7

Annual

26.9

26.0

running buildings. This could be further extended to take

account of physiological effect of cooling if sufficient air
movement is available. The use of equation 6V V2, where V is
the indoor air velocity, was suggested by Szokolay [10].
It should be noted that this will be a larger comfort zone than
that indicated by a 4 8C range suggested by Szokolay [10]. On
the basis of comfort surveys involving a large number of
subjects, it was suggested that the upper limit of the comfort
zone can be considered at a humidity ratio of 0.015 instead of
0.012, in the case of warm humid tropical climatic conditions
[14]. It is also suggested using a humidity ratio of 0.020 as an
upper limit when the physiological cooling effects are taken
into account [14], since the consideration of 90% relative
humidity line as the upper boundary [10] can allow very high
humidity ratios that are unlikely to be tolerated by people even
with significant air movement.
When all these suggestions are considered, it is possible to
have following guidelines for the comfort zones for those who
are acclimatized to tropical climatic conditions. When the air

movement is low, the comfort zone can have a range of

3.5 8C. The side boundaries would be the Standard Effective
Temperature (SET) lines which can be approximately
determined using the equation proposed in Szokolay [10] for
baseline intercept which is Tintercept = T + (T 14)  HR. The
upper boundary will be given by a humidity ratio (HR) of 0.015.
The lower boundary by an HR of 0.004.
When air velocity is high, the comfort zone can be extended
by 6V V2. For example, for an air velocity of 0.6 m/s, the upper
temperature on the 50% RH line can be increased by 3.24 8C. For
this extended comfort zone, the upper boundary will be 90% RH
line and a humidity ratio of 0.020. The gradient of the SET line is
reduced below a HR of 0.012. However, such low HR values will
not be applicable to tropical climatic conditions where the
atmosphere tends to have a considerable amount of moisture.
When all these suggestions are taken into account, it is
possible to propose the comfort zones as indicated in Fig. 5. It
indicates the comfort zone without much ventilation and the
extended zone with air velocities of 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 m/s. The
sample calculations for comfort zones without much ventilation
are given in Appendix A. The calculations for the comfort zone
extended to take account of physiological cooling effect of an
air velocity of 0.6 m/s are also given.
These extended comfort zones indicate that temperatures up to
3435 8C could be tolerated in free running buildings with sufficient ventilation in tropical climatic conditions. This is an encouraging finding that has many positive implications as follows:
(1) When insulated roof slabs are used, the soffit temperature
may rise to about 35 8C although the indoor average
temperature may remain bellow 32 8C in warm sunny days
without much cloud cover. However, 35 8C will not be high
enough to act as a heated body for occupants since it is
lower than the human body temperature. Thus, there is a
good potential to provide indoor thermal comfort with
enhanced ventilation and air movement provided by fans.

Fig. 5. Psychometric chart with extended comfort zone.

R.U. Halwatura, M.T.R. Jayasinghe / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 11531160

Therefore, it may be possible to reduce the shift towards

installing air conditioners in warm humid tropical climates,
when the reinforced concrete slabs are provided with an
adequate resistive insulation system.
(2) In warm humid tropical climatic conditions, the adoption of
many passive features could provide about 23 8C lower
indoor temperatures than the outdoor as described by
Ratnaweera and Hestnes [15]. In addition, provision of
courtyards could also be considered [16]. The favourable
performance of insulated roof slabs in relation to relatively
low soffit temperatures and heat flows could be coupled
with other passive features to assist in eliminating the
presence of heated surfaces around the occupants. This is
essential for the comfort zones presented in Fig. 5.
(3) When the roof can be provided with access without any
restrictions, there will be a potential to regain the land lost
for the construction of the house. This roof top also could be
converted to a roof top garden realizing the cooling effect of
greenery cover [6,7].

1159

SP Madanayake, SL Kapuruge, HP Nandaweera and SRD Silva

of University of Moratuwa is very much appreciated.
Appendix A
A.1. The calculation for the comfort zone without much
ventilation
The neutrality temperature, Tn = 26 8C
Width of the comfort zone  3.5 8C
Therefore, T1 = 22.5 8C; T2 = 29.5 8C
Humidity ratio at 50% RH, for T1 = 0.0086 and T2 = 0.0128
Therefore,
Tintercept = T + 23(T 14)HR
T1,intercept = T + 23(T 14)0.0086 = 24.18 8C
T2,intercept = T + 23(T 14)0.0128 = 34.06 8C
A.2. The calculations for enhanced ventilation

8. The cyclone resistance

The insulated roof slabs are heavy. The weight of screed over
the insulation and a 125 mm slab could be about 4 kN/m2. The
maximum recommended 3 s gust velocity for Sri Lanka is
49 m/s. This can give rise to an uplift of only 0.5 kN/m2 in a
typical house [17]. This clearly indicates that a tropical cyclone
is unlikely to cause any significant damage to a house with
insulated roof slabs except any damage possible due to flying
debris. The heavy slab can also enhance the stability of walls
improving the cyclone resistance.

The calculations are given for an internal air velocity of

0.6 m/s
V = 0.6 m/s
Therefore, 6V V2 = 3.24 8C
T3 = 29.5 8C + 3.24 8C = 32.27 8C
HR for 32.27 8C at 50% RH, is 0.015
T3,intercept = 38.73
The dry bulb temperature corresponding to a HR of 0.012 on
the set line for air velocity of 0.6 m/s = 33.5 8C
The intercept with half slope is (33.5 + 38.7)/2 = 36.1 8C

9. Conclusions
Appendix B
It is shown that reinforced concrete roof slabs could be an
ideal alternative to conventional light weight roofs as far as
preventing the uplifting during tropical cyclones is concerned.
The poor thermal performance of concrete slabs can be
significantly improved with resistive insulation. It is shown that
an insulation thickness of only 25 mm can provide a noteworthy
improvement in tropical climatic conditions specially with
respect to reducing the slab soffit temperature. The comfort
zones generated by combining various guidelines proposed
previously have indicated that temperatures up to 35 8C could
be tolerated by those acclimatized to warm humid conditions
when plenty of ventilation is available. This indicates that there
is very low possibility for an insulated roof slab to act as a
heated body when located above free running spaces. There is a
potential to improve the performance further by adopting the
roof top gardens concept. Thus, insulated roof top slabs with a
robust insulation system could be a viable and effective
alternative to conventional roofs in tropical climatic conditions.

Material

Conductivity, l (W/m K)

Concrete
Polyethylene insulation

1.7
0.035a

a
A value of 0.035 is used to take account of discontinuities in insulation
panels.

Surface resistances
Ceiling upwards
Ceiling downwards
Roofs

Rsi
Rsi
Rso

0.10
0.14
0.04

Calculation of U value for an insulation of 25 mm

covered by 40 mm screed and located on 125 mm thick
reinforced concrete slab:
Rbody

=b1/l1 + b2/l2 + b3/l3

=0.04/1.7 + 0.025/0.035 + 0.125/1.7
=0.81 m2 K/W

Acknowledgements

Air to air resistance, Raa

Authors wish to thank McBerton Polymer Ltd. funding the

experimental programme. The technical assistance of Messrs

=Rsi + Rbody + Rso

=0.04 + 0.81 + 0.14
=0.99 m2 K/W

U value

=1.01 W/m2 K

1160

R.U. Halwatura, M.T.R. Jayasinghe / Energy and Buildings 40 (2008) 11531160

References
[1] F.H. Mallik, Thermal comfort and building designing in the tropical
climates, Energy and Buildings 23 (1996) 161167.
[2] B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish, Embodied energy of
common and alternative building, Energy and Buildings 35 (2003)
129137.
[3] Building Regulations, City of Colombo Development Plan, vol. II,
Colombo Municipal Council, 1985 85 pp.
[4] D.A. Laxmore, M.T.R. Jayasinghe, M. Mahendran, Mitigating temperature increase in high lot density sub tropical residential developments,
Energy and Buildings 37 (2005) 12121224.
[5] A.I. Jayawardane, M.T.R. Jayasinghe, R.A. Attalage, Concepts for sustainable residential developments for urban and sub-urban areas in Sri
Lanka, Engineer, Journal of Institution of Institution of Engineers, Sri
Lanka xxxiv (2) (2001) 6377.
[6] T. Takakura, S. Kitade, E. Goto, Cooling effect of greenery cover over a
building, Energy and Buildings 31 (2000) 16.
[7] T.G. Theodosiou, Summer period analysis of the performance of a planted
roof as a passive cooling technique, Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 909
917.
[8] K.S. Al Jabri, A.W. Hago, A.S. Al Nuaimi, A.H. Al Saidy, Concrete blocks
for thermal insulation in hot climate, Cement and Concrete Research 35
(2005) 14721479.
[9] BS 6399: Part 1: 1996, Loading for Buildings: Part 1. Code of Practice for
Dead and Imposed Loads, BSI, London, 10 pp.
[10] S.V. Szokolay, Heating and cooling of buildings, in: H.J. Cowan (Ed.),
Handbook of Architectural Technology, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New
York, 1991, pp. 323365.

[11] A. Soyigh, A.H. Marafia, Thermal comfort and development of bioclimatic concept in the building design, Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews 2 (1998) 324.
[12] M. Nikolopoulou, K. Steemers, Thermal comfort and psychological
adaptation as a guide for designing urban spaces, Energy and Buildings
35 (2003) 95101.
[13] R.J. de Dear, G.S. Bragar, Thermal comfort in naturally ventilated
buildings: revisions to ASHRAE Standard 55, Energy and Buildings 34
(2002) 549561.
[14] M.T.R. Jayasinghe, R.A. Attalage, Comfort conditions for built environments in Sri Lanka, Engineer, Journal of Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka
xxix (1) (1999) 1223.
[15] C. Ratnaweera, A.G. Hestnes, Enhanced cooling in typical Sri Lankan
dwellings, Energy and Buildings 23 (1996) 183190.
[16] I. Rajapaksha, H. Nagai, M. Okumiya, A ventilated courtyard as a passive
cooling strategy in the warm humid tropics, Renewable Energy 28 (2003)
17551778.
[17] CP 3: Chapter V: Part 2: 1972, Code of Basic Data for the Design of
Buildings: Part 2. Wind Loads, BSI, London, 49 pp.
R.U. Halwatura He is a research assistant at the Department of Civil Engineering of University of Moratuwa reading for PhD by research at University of
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He obtained his BSc engineering degree with a first class
honours from the University of Moratuwa in 2004.
M.T.R. Jayasinghe He is a Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering of
University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He obtained his BSc engineering degree
with a first class honours from University of Moratuwa in 1987 and his PhD
from Cambridge University in 1992. Since then he has undertaken extensive
teaching and research in the field of structural engineering and building energy.