Izadyar, Nima ORCID: 0000-0002-2487-5915, Miller, Wendy, Rismanchi, Behzad and Garcia-Hansen, Veronica (2020) Numerical simulation of single-sided natural ventilation: Impacts of balconies opening and depth scale on indoor environment. In: International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Green Technology (SEGT), 11 Dec 2019 - 14 Dec 2019, Bangkok, Thailand.

Abstract

Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), including, Mechanical ventilation (MV) in the building sector accounts for around 40% of electricity consumption and a large percentage of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Natural ventilation (NV), as an alternative method, assist in decreasing energy consumption as well as harmful emissions. Balconies, a common architectural element in high rise residential buildings, could enhance NV and reduce reliance on mechanical ventilation in cooling dominant climates. Indoor air velocity and distribution, IAV and IAD, due to NV is less predictable than MV, and the impacts of balcony geometry on IAV and IAD profile have not yet been classified. This study, focusing on single-sided ventilation apartments, seeks to determine to what extent balcony depth and door opening area impacts on the indoor environment of the attached living area. For this, 3D – steady-state Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted using ANSYS Fluent. The simulation results were validated against measured data in a full-scale experimental study in a residential building in subtropical Brisbane, Australia. Five different openings and nine depth scenarios were modelled, with results showing variances in indoor mean air velocity and temperature. The outcomes reveal the impacts of opening and depth scales on IAD profile, as well as IAV and temperature magnitude at the attached indoor area. Although the defined scenarios could not reach a firm conclusion, the findings of simulation reject the shallowest balcony scenario (depth less than 2 m) due to weak IAD. Besides, the results show that a small opening could lead to an acceptable IAV at the attached indoor area. Results also suggest that further research on the indoor distribution of temperature and air velocity, consequently neutrality based on thermal comfort model, may provide further clarity on the effect of geometric factors on occupant comfort through NV.

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