Experimental and CFD evidence of multiple solutions in a naturally ventilated building

This paper considers the existence of multiple solutions to natural ventilation of a simple one-zone building, driven by combined thermal and opposing wind forces. The present analysis is an extension of an earlier analytical study of natural ventilation in a fully mixed building, and includes the effect of thermal stratification. Both computational and experimental investigations were carried out in parallel with an analytical investigation. When flow is dominated by thermal buoyancy, it was found experimentally that there is thermal stratification. When the flow is wind-dominated, the room is fully mixed. Results from all three methods have shown that the hysteresis phenomena exist. Under certain conditions, two different stable steady-state solutions are found to exist by all three methods for the same set of parameters. As shown by both the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental results, one of the solutions can shift to another when there is a sufficient perturbation. These results have probably provided the strongest evidence so far for the conclusion that multiple states exist in natural ventilation of simple buildings. Different initial conditions in the CFD simulations led to different solutions, suggesting that caution must be taken when adopting the commonly used 'zero initialization'.     

Mean age of air in a naturally ventilated office: Experimental data and simulations

Indoor air quality has an important role as health determinant; it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants.The present paper investigates the wind-forced natural ventilation rates of an office as observed with tracer decay, according to ISO 16000-8:2007 Standard, both with an experimental and numerical procedure; experimental data were used to validate the numerical method. Moreover the only infiltration rate case was analyzed.Natural ventilation was created by opening the window and the door of the office. A simulation model of the room was carried out by using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code Fluent. The experimental set up of the procedure was developed by a portable gas chromatograph. In both the numerical and experimental approach the mean age of air linking to ventilation efficiency was calculated. The defined experimental procedure can be applied to different situations, in order to evaluate the efficiency of both natural and forced ventilation existing systems. When the ventilation is due to the opening of the window and the door, the simulation results are in a good agreement with the experimental ones, therefore the model could be applied to different situations, in order to reduce costs and time in the evaluation of indoor air quality.     

Characterization and prediction of the volume flow rate aerating a cross ventilated building by means of experimental techniques and numerical approaches

The paper presents an extensive experimental and numerical study on a cross-ventilated building providing important features of the induced flow patterns at the two openings as a function of the free stream wind velocity's magnitude and its incidence angle. The experimental data are measured via anemometers across the openings, whilst the numerical methodology is based on the time-dependant solution of the governing Navier-Stokes equations. The experimental data are compared to the corresponding numerical results, revealing the unsteady character of the flow field especially at large incidence angles. Furthermore, additional information regarding the flow field near the opening edges, not easily extracted by experimental methods, provide an in depth sight in the main characteristics of the flow field both at the openings but also inside the building. Finally, a new methodology for the approximation of the volume flow rate aerating the building based on experimental measurements of the velocity field at the openings is presented.     

Facade design optimization for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore

Parametric studies of facade designs for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore were carried out to optimize facade designs for better indoor thermal comfort and energy saving. Two criteria regarding indoor thermal comfort for naturally ventilated residential buildings are used in this study. To avoid the perception of thermal asymmetry, temperature difference between mean radiant temperature and indoor ambient air temperature should be less than 2 °C [F.A. Chrenko, Heated ceilings and comfort. J. Inst. Heat. Ventilating Eng. 20 (1953) 375–396; F.A. Chrenko, Heated ceilings and comfort. J. Inst. Heat. Ventilating Eng. 21 (1953) 145–154]. Thermal comfort regression model for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore was used to evaluate various facade designs either. Facade design parameters: U-values, orientations, WWR (window to wall ratio) and shading device lengths are considered in the investigation. The building simulation results for a typical residential building in Singapore indicated that the U-value of facade materials for north and south orientations should be less than 2.5 W/m² K and the U-value of facade materials for north and south orientations should be less than 2 W/m² K. From the coupled simulation results, it was found that the optimum window to wall ratio is equal to 0.24. Optimum facade designs and thermal comfort indexes are summarized for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore.     

Comparison of thermal comfort algorithms in naturally ventilated office buildings

With the actual environmental issues of energy savings in buildings, there are more efforts to prevent any increase in energy use associated with installing air-conditioning systems. The actual standard of thermal comfort in buildings ISO 7730 is based on static model that is acceptable in air-conditioned buildings, but unreliable for the case of naturally ventilated buildings. The different field studies have shown that occupants of naturally ventilated buildings accept and prefer a significantly wider range of temperatures compared to occupants of air-conditioned buildings. The results of these field studies have contributed to develop the adaptive approach. Adaptive comfort algorithms have been integrated in EN15251 and ASHRAE standards to take into account the adaptive approach in naturally ventilated buildings. These adaptive algorithms seem to be more efficient for naturally ventilated buildings, but need to be assessed in field studies. This paper evaluates different algorithms from both static and adaptive approach in naturally ventilated buildings across a field survey that has been conducted in France in five naturally ventilated office buildings. The paper presents the methodology guidelines, and the thermal comfort algorithms considered. The results of application of different algorithms are provided with a comparative analysis to assess the applied algorithms.     

Sensitivity of air change rates in a naturally ventilated atrium space subject to variations in external wind speed and direction

Design guidelines for natural ventilation (NV) in buildings focus on the potential hourly air change (ACH) rates based on the building space parameters. Critically, external airflow data is often assumed on the basis of a single mean wind speed and an associated prevailing wind direction. This can result in significant variation in ventilation rates and comfort conditions when non-design external wind conditions prevail. This paper describes a CFD study aimed at examining the influence of variations in external wind speed and direction on the air change rate for the atrium space of a two-storey naturally ventilated building. The building atrium is ventilated by a series of entry vents on one wall of the building in conjunction with roof vents. External wind speeds from 25 to 250% of the mean site wind speed (5.7 m/s) were examined and found to result in an almost linear increase in the ACH rate. For a single wind speed, the relationship between wind direction and the ACH rate was also found to be approximately linear for wind directions between 0° and 90° (orthogonal and parallel) to the wall vent openings, but non-linear for other wind directions (90–135°). More generally, the significant variation in the atrium ACH rate with changes in external wind conditions, evident in this particular building model, illustrates the importance of considering non-design wind conditions when designing NV buildings.     

矢流洁净室二维流场的大涡模拟

采用大涡模拟技术对矢流洁净室二维流场进行了数值模拟，分析了模拟结果，确定了空态洁净室的送风口半径、回风口高度、送风速度等参数，指出湍流大涡模拟能准确得到洁净室流场中旋涡的位置和尺度，适用于对洁净空调多种工作环境的数值模拟。     

Experimental measurements and large eddy simulation of expiratory droplet dispersion in a mechanically ventilated enclosure with thermal effects

Understanding of droplet transport in indoor environments with thermal effects is very important to comprehend the airborne pathogen infection through expiratory droplets. In this work, a well-resolved Large Eddy Simulation (LES) was performed to compute the concentration profiles of monodisperse aerosols in non-isothermal low-Reynolds turbulent flow taking place in an enclosed environment. Good care was taken to ensure that the main dynamical features of the continuous phase were captured by the present LES. The particle phase was studied in both Lagrangian and Eulerian frameworks. Steady temperature and velocity were measured prior to droplet emission. Evolution of aerosol concentration was measured by a particle counter. Results of the present LES were to compare reasonably well with the experimental findings for both phases.     

Environmental performance of a naturally ventilated city centre library

To tackle climate change it is essential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. To this end, it is important to reduce the energy demands of non-domestic buildings. Naturally ventilated buildings can have low energy demands but the strategy is difficult to implement in deep plan, urban locations. The Frederick Lanchester Library at Coventry University, UK, incorporates natural ventilation, daylighting and passive cooling strategies. By using lightwells and perimeter stacks to supply and exhaust air, it can be ventilated by natural means despite its deep plan form and sealed façade. This paper describes the building and presents the energy consumption and the internal temperatures and CO₂ levels recorded in 2004/2005. The building's performance is compared to the original design criteria and good practice guidelines. Recommendations for the design of such buildings are made and the likely performance in other UK cities is assessed. It is concluded that the building uses under half the energy of a standard air-conditioned building and yet, in summer, can keep the interior comfortable and up to 5 °C below ambient. The design would perform equally well in the typical weather conditions experienced at 13 other UK cities, but not in London. It is concluded that deep-plan, naturally ventilated buildings with sealed facades, if well designed, could maintain thermal comfort in all but a very few UK locations, whilst consuming much less energy than even good practice standards.     

Relationship of indoor and outdoor air pollutants in a naturally ventilated historical building envelope

Concentrations of NO₂, O₃, SO₂, acetic and formic acids, HNO₃ and NH₃ were measured inside and outside a historical building, the Baroque Library Hall (BLH) in the National Library in Prague (Czech Republic). The naturally ventilated system of the building, the restriction of personnel access, reduced groups of visitors and absence of activities which could influence indoor pollutant concentrations are characteristics that make the Baroque Library Hall a suitable location to study the influence of outdoor environment on the indoor air quality. The relationship between indoor and outdoor (I/O) concentration was investigated to assess the infiltration of outdoor generated pollutants. Outdoor and indoor pollution sources were determined and, infiltration of ammonium nitrate and a shift of the equilibrium to the gas phase were the reason for the high concentration of ammonia measured inside the BLH. A significant seasonal variation was observed and interpreted as a consequence of different infiltration regime associated with indoor–outdoor temperature differences, which in addition drives dilution processes of indoor generated pollutants. Based on the indoor air quality assessment performed in the BLH with regard to human and material exposure, there is reason for concern about material preservation and in particular paper at the BLH.     

火源—竖井间距对自然通风隧道火灾烟气流动特征的影响

通过数值计算,研究顶部开口自然通风隧道火灾火源–竖井间距对烟气流动特征与竖井排烟效率的影响。考虑因素有火源–竖井间距、竖井断面尺寸。结果表明：随着火源–竖井间距的增大,竖井前方来流烟气的质量流量增大,且竖井的排烟效率逐渐降低,竖井内空气卷吸量减少;当火源–竖井间距较小时,竖井更有利于排出更多的热量,竖井后方的温度降低幅度更大,烟气可以被控制在更小的范围内。此外,随着竖井截面尺寸的增大,竖井的排烟效率增加,且增大竖井的宽度更有利于增加竖井的排烟量。因此建议当相邻竖井的间距较大时,可适当增加竖井的截面尺寸和竖井高度。     

Thermal comfort for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Harbin

This field study was conducted during summer 2009 in Harbin, northeast of China in order to investigate human responses to the thermal conditions in naturally ventilated residential buildings in cold climate. We visited 257 families in six residential communities and collected 423 sets of physical data and subjective questionnaires. The neutral temperature is 23.7 °C, with the clothing insulation of 0.54 clo. The neutral temperature in Harbin is lower than neutral temperatures in warm climates by others, which is in accordance with the thermal adaptive model. 80% of the occupants can accept the air temperature range of 21.5-31.0 °C, which is wider than the summer comfort temperature limits by the adaptive model. The preferred temperature range fell between 24.0 °C and 28.0 °C. About 57.9% of the subjects voted “no change” with the humid range of 40% and 70%. 61.5% of the occupants voted “no change” with the air velocity within the range of 0.05-0.30 m/s. In summer, occupants preferred air velocity of lower than 0.25 m/s even at higher indoor temperature, which is different from the other field studies. The Harbin occupants in naturally ventilated dwellings can achieve thermal comfort by operable windows instead of running air-conditioners.     

Indoor air quality and occupant satisfaction in five mechanically and four naturally ventilated open-plan office buildings

Occupant responses and indoor environment characteristics were recorded and compared in five mechanically and four naturally ventilated open-plan office buildings by using a simple approach that enabled us to survey many buildings simultaneously. All occupant responses were obtained during one afternoon. In a pre-experiment, temperature and the concentration of CO₂ were monitored in 2–10 locations/office to evaluate the variation throughout the offices. A representative measurement point was subsequently selected and measurements of the same parameters were made during one week. All offices were monitored during the same week and occupant responses to the indoor environment were collected via the internet on the same day within that week. The temperature and the CO₂ concentration varied more and were in some cases higher in the naturally ventilated buildings, but occupant responses in terms of symptoms and adverse perceptions differed only modestly between the two building types. Although rarely supported by statistical significance, the results indicated a somewhat higher degree of satisfaction with the indoor environment and a lower prevalence/intensity of symptoms among the occupants in the naturally ventilated buildings.     

A second order turbulence model for the prediction of air movement and heat transfer in a ventilated room

A full-scale test room is used to investigate experimentally and numerically the velocity and temperature fields in the case of a mechanical ventilation. Detailed fields are measured for three cases of ventilation air temperature: an isothermal case, a hot case, and a cold case. The experimental data are used to test two turbulence models: a first order k-ε realizable turbulence model and a second order quadratic RSM (Reynolds Stress Model) turbulence model. The RSM model predicts the temperature and velocity fields better than the k-ε turbulence model. In particular, global values of velocity and temperature coming from experiments are in good agreement with the RSM turbulence model. This conclusion is confirmed using a turbulence analysis based on Lumley triangles.     

Simulation of mixed convection flow in a room with a two-layer turbulence model

Most indoor airflows are mixed convection. In order to simulate mixed convection accurately and efficiently, this paper uses a two-layer turbulence model. The two-layer model combines a one-equation model for near wall flow together with the standard k-epsilon model for outer-wall flow. The model has been used to predict the mixed convection by displacement ventilation in an office. The computed results agree well with the corresponding airflow pattern and the distributions of air temperature, air velocity, air velocity fluctuation, and tracer-gas concentration. The model can predict correctly heat transfer from a wall where the standard k-epsilon model and re-normalization group (RNG) k-epsilon model with wall functions often fails. The computing cost required by the two-layer model is comparable to that of the standard k-epsilon model and RNG k-epsilon model and is significantly less than that by a low-Reynolds number model.     

An analytical and numerical study of solar chimney use for room natural ventilation

The solar chimney concept used for improving room natural ventilation was analytically and numerically studied. The study considered some geometrical parameters such as chimney inlet size and width, which are believed to have a significant effect on space ventilation. The numerical analysis was intended to predict the flow pattern in the room as well as in the chimney. This would help optimizing design parameters. The results were compared with available published experimental and theoretical data. There was an acceptable trend match between the present analytical results and the published data for the room air change per hour, ACH. Further, it was noticed that the chimney width has a more significant effect on ACH compared to the chimney inlet size. The results showed that the absorber average temperature could be correlated to the intensity as: (T_w = 3.51I^0.461) with an accepted range of approximation error. In addition the average air exit velocity was found to vary with the intensity as (ν_ex = 0.013I^0.4).     

Indoor/outdoor relationships of size-resolved particle concentrations in naturally ventilated school environments

Assessment of indoor air quality in typical classrooms is vital to students’ health and their performance. The present study was designed to monitor indoor and outdoor size-resolved particle concentrations in a naturally ventilated classroom and investigate factors influencing their levels and relationships. The experiments were performed, at normal ventilation condition with doors and windows opened, on the top floor of a public school building near a busy commercial area of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The particle number concentrations were measured using an optical counter with four size intervals between 0.3 and 5.0 μm. The dataset was collected during weekdays and weekends with a 24 h sampling period over November and December 2005. It was observed that the median indoor particle number concentrations during daytime for 0.3–0.5, 0.5–1.0, 1.0–2.5, and 2.5–5.0 μm size intervals were about 1.6×10⁸, 1.7×10⁷, 1.2×10⁶, and 4.1×10⁵ particles/m³, respectively. It was also found that concentrations at weekends were slightly higher those measured on weekdays, and at night, appeared to be higher than daytime. Indoor particles were observed to exhibit similar temporal variation pattern with outdoor particles. Results suggested that a significant contribution to indoor particles was from penetration of outdoor particles, whereas indoor sources generated from occupant activity did not show strong evidence. High outdoor particle loading and high air exchange rate were thought to be predominant causes. Ratios of indoor-to-outdoor (I/O) particle concentrations varied in a relatively narrow range from 0.69 to 0.88 with average values well below 1. The I/O ratios were in the range from 0.74 to 0.88 for submicrometer particles and from 0.69 to 0.80 for supermicrometer particles.     

多层建筑火灾烟气运动的数值模拟

阐述了烟气运动的数学模型．应用CFD技术对多层建筑火灾产生的烟气运动进行了模拟，分析了烟气的运动状况，初步论述了CFD技术的优缺点。