Abstract
This paper presents an assessment of the efficiency of the fenestration system in a courtyard house in hot climate. The empirical work draws better understanding of the wind behavior inside and outside the building and the manner of both the wind-driven and stack ventilation through conducting computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. Numerous steady state simulations were applied for different time-steps to cover possible variations of boundary conditions to get aggregated results for airflow during summer in a couple of spaces in the house. The results were analyzed and values of the air change rates were extracted for the summer season. The role of each component involved in the natural ventilation process was identified through determination of the airflow pattern and break-down assessment. Simulations showed the stabilization of wind velocity inside the courtyard which protects the building against undesirable high velocities. The analysis demonstrated the efficiency of the distribution of openings as well as the role of the roof wind-escape in the enhancement of air circulation and the indoor air quality. For two different spaces, the wind escape device is found to increase the air change rates (ACH) as more as 25% and 60% than the 2-side ventilation case in which the ACH was increased as more as 45% and 27% than the single-side. The relationship between cross ventilation and indoor temperature was illustrated through the transient simulations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Aflaki A, Mahyuddin N, Mahmoud ZA, Baharum MR (2015). A review on natural ventilation applications through building façade components and ventilation openings in tropical climates. Energy and Buildings, 101: 153–162.
Asfour OS, Gadi MB (2007). A comparison between CFD and Network models for predicting wind-driven ventilation in buildings. Building and Environment, 42: 4079–4085.
Autodesk (2015). Autodesk Simulation CFD. Available at http://help.autodesk.com/view/SCDSE/2015/ENU.
Bansal NK, Mathur R, Bhandari MS (1994). A study of solar chimney assisted wind tower system for natural ventilation in buildings. Building and Environment, 29: 495–500.
Bittencourt L, Peixoto L (2001). The influence of different courtyard configuration on natural ventilation through low-rise school buildings. In: Proceedings of International IBPSA Building Simulation Conference, Rio de Janero, Brazil, pp. 125–131.
Calautit JK, Hughes BR, Ghani SA (2013). A numerical investigation into the feasibility of integrating green building technologies into row houses in the Middle East. Architectural Science Review, 56: 279–296.
Calautit JK, Hughes BR (2014). Wind tunnel and CFD study of the natural ventilation performance of a commercial multi-directional wind tower. Building and Environment, 80: 71–83.
Driss S, Driss Z, Kammoun IK (2016). Computational study and experimental validation of the heat ventilation in a living room with a solar patio system. Energy and Buildings, 119: 28–40.
Etheridge D (2015). A perspective on fifty years of natural ventilation research. Building and Environment, 91: 51–60.
Etheridge D (2004). Natural ventilation through large openings— Measurements at model scale and envelope flow theory. International Journal of Ventilation, 2: 325–342.
Faggianelli GA, Brun A, Wurtz E, Muselli M (2014). Natural cross ventilation in buildings on Mediterranean coastal zones. Energy and Buildings, 77: 206–218.
Farea TG, Ossen DR, Alkaff S, Kotani H (2015). CFD modeling for natural ventilation in a lightwell connected to outdoor through horizontal voids. Energy and Buildings, 86: 502–513.
Hindrichs DU, Daniels K (2007). Plus Minus 20°/40° Latitude: Sustainable Building Design in Tropical and Subtropical Regions. Stuttgart: Edition Axel Menges.
Horan JM, Finn DP (2008). Sensitivity of air change rates in a naturally ventilated atrium space subject to variations in external wind speed and direction. Energy and Buildings, 40: 1577–1585.
Hughes BR, Calautit JK, Ghani SA (2012). The development of commercial wind towers for natural ventilation: A review. Applied Energy, 92: 606–627.
Hughes BR, Ghani SAAA (2010). A numerical investigation into the effect of Windvent louvre external angle on passive stack ventilation performance. Building and Environment, 45: 1025–1036.
Jamaludin AA, Hussein H, Ariffin AR, Keumala N (2014). A study on different natural ventilation approaches at a residential college building with the internal courtyard arrangement. Energy and Buildings, 72: 340–352.
Lo LJ, Novoselac A (2012). Cross ventilation with small openings: Measurements in a multi-zone test building. Building and Environment, 57: 377–386.
Lo LJ, Banks D, Novoselac A (2013). Combined wind tunnel and CFD analysis for indoor airflow prediction of wind-driven cross ventilation. Building and Environment, 60: 12–23.
Ji Y, Cook M, Hanby V (2007). CFD modelling of natural displacement ventilation in an enclosure connected to an atrium. Building and Environment, 42: 1158–1172.
Karava P, Stathoupoulous T, Athienitis AK (2006). Wind-induced natural ventilation analysis. Solar Energy, 81: 20–30.
Khan N, Su Y, Riffat SB (2008). A review on wind driven ventilation techniques. Energy and Buildings, 40: 1586–1604.
Micallef D, Buhagiar V, Borg SP (2016). Cross-ventilation of a room in a courtyard building. Energy and Buildings, 133: 658–669.
Rajapaksha I, Nagai H, Okumiya M (2003). A ventilated courtyard as a passive cooling strategy in the warm humid tropics. Renewable Energy, 28: 1755–1778.
Ramponi R, Blocken B (2012). CFD simulation of cross-ventilation for a generic isolated building: Impact of computational parameters. Building and Environment, 53: 34–48.
Roache PJ (1998). Verification and Validation in Computational Science and Engineering. Albuquerque, NM, USA: Hermosa Publishers, pp. 107–141.
Saadatian O, Haw LC, Sopian K, Sulaiman MY (2012). Review of windcatcher technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16: 1477–1495.
Safarzadeh H, Bahadori MN (2005). Passive cooling effects of courtyards. Building and Environment, 40: 89–104.
Shen X, Zhang G, Bjerg B (2012). Comparison of different methods for estimating ventilation rates through wind driven ventilated buildings. Energy and Buildings, 54: 297–306.
Tablada A, Blocken B, Carmeliet J, De Troyer F, Verschure H (2005). The Influence of courtyard geometry on air flow and thermal comfort: CFD and thermal comfort simulations. In: Proceedings for the 22nd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA), Beirut, Lebanon.
Tan G, Glicksman LR (2005). Application of integrating multi-zone model with CFD simulation to natural ventilation prediction. Energy and Buildings, 37: 1049–1057.
Wong NH, Heryanto S (2004). The study of active stack effect to enhance natural ventilation using wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Energy and Buildings, 36: 668–678.
Yusoff WFM, Salleh E, Adam NM, Sapian AR, Sulaiman MY (2010). Enhancement of stack ventilation in hot and humid climate using a combination of roof solar collector and vertical stack. Building and Environment, 45: 2296–2308.
Acknowledgements
The study is a part of a research work financed through a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
12273_2017_357_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Numerical assessment of the efficiency of fenestration system and natural ventilation mechanisms in a courtyard house in hot climate
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yousef Mousa, W.A., Lang, W. & Auer, T. Numerical assessment of the efficiency of fenestration system and natural ventilation mechanisms in a courtyard house in hot climate. Build. Simul. 10, 737–754 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-017-0357-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-017-0357-0