The applicability of Passive Downdraught Evaporative Cooling (PDEC) fo
r reducing energy consumption in hot dry climates is reviewed. A new E
C Joule project explaining the application of PDEC in non-domestic bui
ldings is described. The building performance assessment methodology w
hich employs dynamic thermal simulation programs for thermal analysis,
and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes for airflow modelling is
discussed. The role which wind tunnel tests and field measurements ha
ve in producing improved models is noted. Preliminary results from CFD
benchmark trials are presented. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsev
ier Science Ltd.