Research on Thermal Environment in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes

Abstract

In order to compare with the influence of different underlying surfaces on thermal environment, the software Fluent is used to simulate the thermal environment of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. The results show that (1) the warming effect at 12:00 of terrain raises 1.9°C; (2) one of the bare lands declines 0.3°C; (3) one of the trees without considering heat-storage and transpiration reduces the air temperature in shadow regions but increases in square regions; (4) one of the trees with considering heat-storage reduces 0.17°C. It indicates that about 82.5% heat reduces caused by transpiration effect. It’s thus concluded that the terrain of Mogao Grottoes increases the air temperature, while different underlying surfaces and trees reduce that.