Research on the Influence of the Parameters of the “AO-Shaped” Skywell of Traditional Huizhou Residential Houses on the Indoor Wind Environment

This study was conducted in the context of China’s latest “double carbon” policy. The objective of this study was twofold: firstly, to examine the characteristics of traditional Chinese residential skywell; and secondly, to investigate and develop climate-adaptive technologies for these structures. To this end, a study was conducted on the Huizhou skywell architecture in China. Firstly, we obtained a large amount of basic data, such as traditional buildings and skywell parameters in Huizhou through field research and on-site mapping. Second, we combined a large number of parameters and typical cases to analyze the data and determine a more scientifically typical model of Huizhou architecture and experimental coverage of skywell data. Different shapes and sizes of skywell were formed by changing the combination of skywell length and width, and the indoor wind environments of these skywell dwelling models were simulated one by one using PHOENIX (v2016) software. Finally, the data obtained from these simulations are analyzed using the variable control method, and the simulated indoor wind environments of skywells under different scale combinations in terms of skywell length, width, and length–width coupling effects are summarized and compared. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) The length of the skywell has a certain effect on all indoor wind environments, and the variation in indoor wind speed is smallest when the length of the skywell is 7.5 m. When selecting the design size of the skywell, the length of the skywell can be increased accordingly. (2) The width of the skywell for the indoor wind environment is divided into two cases, when the length of the skywell is less than 3.75 m, increasing the width of the skywell will make the indoor wind environment more unstable. However, when the length of the skywell is greater than 3.75 m, the width of the skywell is positively related to the comfort of the indoor wind environment. (3) The area of the skywell should not be too large, usually between 11.25 m2 and 18.75 m2. A slender skywell is more likely to provide a comfortable indoor wind environment. (4) After extensive evaluation, we found that the comfort of the indoor wind environment is high when the width of the skywell is 2 m. The optimum dimensions for the ventilation performance of the skywell are 7.5 m in length and 2 m in width.