Air Environment and Energy Performance of a Building Courtyard in the Heating Season

Abstract

Courtyards are now used in many new buildings in China for taking advantage of better natural ventilation and thus improving the microclimate. However, when the building is equipped with a central air-conditioning (AC) system for space heating in winter, the warm air infiltration from the heated rooms enters into the courtyard and leads to changes in the natural ventilation characteristics in the courtyard. In the present study, the air environment and energy performance of a courtyard style office building in Shanghai were monitored in winter. The internal and external environmental parameters such as air temperature, CO2and particle concentrations were measured simultaneously and continuously when the building was heated or was not in use. The results show that when there is no apparent pollutant source in the courtyard, a better microenvironment can be established and the air quality in the space is almost the same as the ambient air, because its natural ventilation is enhanced by the warm air infiltration from the heated rooms. Compared to a building without a courtyard, the building envelope heat loss can be reduced by 20% or 11% in winter for buildings with or without a corridor facing the courtyard enclosed by glass windows, respectively, due to the warm air infiltration which increases the air temperature in the courtyard.