Simulation of natural ventilation in hospitals of semiarid climates for harmattan dust and mosquitoes: A conundrum

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to explore the performance of various natural ventilation strategies in hospital wards, as an alternative to costly mechanical ventilation strategies in Nigeria. The harsh climatic condition in the study area (semi-arid region) characterized by high levels of direct solar radiation. Harmattan dust blowing from the northeast Sahara desert, and mosquitoes, have made the strategies' to achieve acceptable indoor air quality difficult. Results indicate that 8% opening area in relation to the space floor area is required to achieve the acceptable ventilation rate in hospital wards.