Journal of Life Sciences 10 (2016) 298-306 doi: 10.17265/1934-7391/2016.06.005 The First Natural Ventilation Assessment in Building Design in Djibouti Abdou Idris Omar 1 , Abdoulkader Ibrahim Idriss 1 , Omar Assowe Dabar 2 , Abdourazack Ahmed Kayad 1 and Mohamed Said Darar 1 1. Research Center at the University of Djibouti (CRUD/GRE), Faculty of Engineers, Street Djanaleh, B.P. 1904, Djibouti 2. Institute for Earth Sciences, Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche de Djibouti (CERD), Airportstreet, B.P. 486, Djibouti Abstract: With a sustained period of economic growth, rapidly growing populations and with more diversified economies Africa need sustainable development; hence the greater need for massive investments in energy. Sub-Saharan countries such as Djibouti have the potential and ability to harness their natural ventilation as a passive cooling system for designing new houses. The rapid expansion of the Djibouti city is affecting negatively the environment and the safety and comfort of its inhabitants. Proper atmospheric urban planning and management are key to making cities environmentally friendly and sustainable. Based on energy consumption, climate conditions in Djibouti and numerical analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), it is apparent that the natural ventilation creates a thermally comfortable indoor environment in buildings during the cool season of the year. Measured wind data from two measurement systems are presented and discussed. Statistical analyses, wind rose, Weibull distribution were carried out to understand the natural ventilation characteristic, which is used for evolving the basic criteria for economic viability of building in the semi-arid climate of Djibouti. The study found that it is possible to benefit from natural ventilation in buildings during the cool season of the year. Key words: Computational Fluid Dynamics, airflow simulation, natural ventilation, bioclimatic design, weather data, energy efficiency. 1. Introduction Nowadays, all developing and developed countries are subject to three major constraints that require them to define an energy transition strategy: the higher hydrocarbon price; the needs of their energy security; climate change which negatively affect environment and inhabitant safety and comfort [1-4]. A few researches have been undertaken on bioclimatic design [5, 6] in the last twenty years, and many recent research projects have been concerned with natural ventilation [7-9] such as indoor air quality and thermal comfort [10, 11] in the context of ventilation. Bruce J.M. [12] presented a generalised neutral height-based theory for natural ventilation through multiple openings in one wall. Axleyand Corresponding author: Abdou Idris Omar, research fields: energy efficiency in buildings, energy design, thermal comfort, bioclimatic design, applications of computational fluid dynamics. Emmerich [13] proposed a method for assessing the suitability of natural ventilation in buildings. For this paper, the main objective is to investigate the integration of the natural ventilation potential under local climate by considering one of the buildings of the University of Djibouti. The building was chosen because the local weather station is fitted on its roof. Accordingly, this work presents the first natural ventilation potential analysis in the Republic of Djibouti, based on satellite estimates and local weather station data through CFD simulations analysis from January to December 2015. Wind-rose diagram and Weibull distribution regarding the building are discussed in subsequent sections. Short analysis of the airflow simulation using CFD was, finally, exposed. 2. Energy Consumption Context in Djibouti Djibouti has no conventional energy resources and depends totally on the outside for energy supplies D DAVID PUBLISHING