Abstract
Various problems often arise in high-rise buildings during the winter months due to the stack effect. In this study, the high-rise building of interest, located in South Korea, was experiencing constant loud noises in the winter due to the stack effect. Thus, we created a noise level reduction plan by creating a method for pressurizing the high-rise zones of the building according to outdoor conditions. To discover the appropriate pressurization operating modes, we applied a two-year commissioning process to the 50-story building of interest. The 1st- and 47th-floor elevator halls were identified to have the highest noise levels of all other floors. Prior to applying the reduction plan, the maximum noise level on the first floor with the HVAC system turned off was 85 dB(A) and with the HVAC system turned on it was 70 dB(A). Both values exceeded the criteria of 57 dB(A) for a lobby space of a commercial building. In the case of the 47th floor, the maximum noise level with the HVAC system turned off was 58.7 dB(A) and with the HVAC system turned off was 56.0 dB(A), despite the latter having increased airtightness performance and applying preliminary pressurization (i.e., HVAC operation mode 2). These values exceeded the criteria of 48 dB(A) for an elevator hall in a commercial building. Following this initial data, we determined to pressurize the high/mid-rise zones of the building according to the outdoor air temperature and wind velocity conditions, which we categorized into four types (i.e., HVAC operation mode 4). To this effect, the first-floor elevator hall’s maximum noise level was 56.6 dB(A), meeting the criteria, and the 47th-floor elevator hall’s maximum noise level was 49.5 dB(A), still exceeding the criteria but by an insignificant amount. Although the HVAC pressurization operation we utilized resulted in favorable results for the target building A, it may not be as effective in other new high-rise buildings, creating changes to the indoor air environment or to the energy costs in maintaining a building. However, for the purposes of resolving the stack effect, we believe that the commissioning process we took to optimize the HVAC operation that is presented here can be applied to other new and existing high-rise commercial buildings.
Highlights
With the increasing migration of people to cities, there has been a greater demand for high-rise buildings
We introduce and utilize a preliminary commissioning process focused on stack effect problems, which was derived from the RC technique and applied to the building of interest to resolve complaints of loud noises and to secure pleasant working conditions for the occupants
We conducted a series of experiments to find an effective HVAC operation scheme, adjusting according to changes in the environment when needed, that would resolve the stack effect problem in a 50-story commercial building located in Seoul, South
Summary
With the increasing migration of people to cities, there has been a greater demand for high-rise buildings. The years, problems that are unique to high-rise buildings continue to persist. Many of these problems are related to the stack effect. The stack effect is the vertical movement of air throughout a high-rise building driven by thermal buoyancy that occurs due to temperature differences between indoor and outdoor air [1,2,3]. The resulting air current draws cold air from outside and into the low-rise zones of the building in the winter. The opposite air movement occurs during warmer weather, called the reverse-stack effect. This is less apparent because temperature differences between the indoor and outdoor of buildings are generally greater during the winter
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