Dynamic thermal simulation on retrofitting scenarios for semi-extensive sheep farms

Abstract

Sheep and goat have a high adaptability to different climatic conditions. Nevertheless, even in extensive farming, these species benefit from the presence of structures that can mitigate stress from heat, cold and humidity changes. These shelters are used at night or for limited periods during the year. These are characterised by a low engineering and make extensive use of recycled material. Interesting innovation in rural areas could be represented by the re-development of these buildings in order to improve their internal microclimate. This work develops a thermal dynamic simulation model aimed at identifying the best solution to retrofit the envelope of existing livestock buildings. In this paper, three different solutions have been tested: insulation of vertical surfaces, insulation of roof and window type. Eight different materials have been considered for roof and vertical surfaces and four for the different kind of window glazing, analysing the building microclimate responses. As a reference building to compare the different solutions adopted has been chosen an extensive sheep farm located in the Italian Apennines. The results suggest that the best solution is to insulate the roof. The other elements offer negligible results in term of improving the internal microclimate conditions. For coating the roof it can also be considered a good response of all the analysed insulating materials, in order to increase the period of maintaining the temperature of comfort and not exceeding its critical values within the building.

Keywords

• dynamic energy simulation, microclimate responses, sheep farming, roof insulation, vertical surface insulation.