Thermal Comfort Assessment of Temporary Shelters Used in Türkiye by CFD Analysis

This research assessed the thermal comfort conditions of temporary shelters in Türkiye using the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) index. A typical container-type shelter was selected as the model for the analysis. Simulations were conducted on July 21 at four different times: 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, and 16:00. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software Ansys Fluent was utilized to perform the simulations. Eight shelters positioned in various parts of a standard shelter layout were analyzed. Two ventilation scenarios were considered: one with only the doors open, and another with both doors and windows open. While PMV quantifies the average thermal sensation on a scale from -3 (cold) to +3 (hot), in Scenario 1, the general scale of PMV is hot or exceeds the hot scale; besides, the number of situations classified as warm and slightly warm in Scenario 2 increases. In Scenario 1, PMV values were generally high and surpassed the thermal comfort threshold (+3-hot), especially during the morning and midday hours, while natural ventilation improved significantly, leading to lower PMV values, which are about +2(warm), and enhanced thermal comfort in Scenario 2. As a result, it is recommended to consider site-specific orientation, prioritizing layouts that maximize exposure to prevailing wind directions, particularly for living and sleeping areas, while also minimizing the exposure of heavily occupied zones to intense solar radiation.