Air Flow Patterns within Buildings

Overview

Accurate prediction of air flow patterns within rooms and through buildings becomes more and more important for the design of today's and future HVAC systems. For maximum energy efficiency, high thermal comfort, and optimum indoor air quality, the details of the flow field and of air infiltration mechanisms must be known during the planning phase of a building.

International experts have formulated requirements for design tools and have laid the groundwork for their development. Computer codes for the simulation of single and multizone air flow have been surveyed. Based on their performance in predicting ventilation effectiveness and transport of contaminants and energy, a few programmes of different levels of complexity were selected for validation against measurements. New physical models were incorporated where necessary and tested. Advanced measurement techniques to assess ventilation effectiveness in whole buildings were developed and documented. Standardised data bases with validated information for the programme developer or directly for the design engineer have been made available.