Modeling air leakage in buildings caused by the cyclic variation of the atmospheric pressure

Abstract

This article considers a new type of air infiltration through building envelopes caused by the barometric pressure variation. This process is independent from wind action or stack effect. A new building–atmosphere differential equation of air exchange is established. Based on the solution of the differential equation of air exchange, we propose the notion of pressure equilibration time [Formula: see text] that characterizes the dynamic response of the building. Furthermore, experimental climatic data were processed using Fourier analysis methods in order to build an identification model based on the regular harmonics of external pressure oscillation. The barometric pressure reconstructed in its parameterized form was introduced in the differential equation of air exchange as a term that models the dynamics of the external action. The analytic solution of the differential equation of air exchange demonstrates that the indoor–outdoor pressure difference is insignificant at less than 10−3 Pa for any harmonic of the external pressure variation. At the same time, it is concluded that the airtightness of the envelope has little influence on the process, as the indoor–outdoor pressure equilibration is almost instantaneous in a continuous regime of variation. The described mechanism of air infiltration explains the alternation of infiltration and exfiltration of air in buildings. For this, a mass balance of air exchange for the specific ranges of time is performed. We prove that the barometric pressure variation has an effect that accounts for 3.19% of the total quantity of air exchanged. The advances provided by this paper constitute a useful instrument for further studies concerning the stack effect in thermal dynamic conditions. Practical application: The paper proposes a novel methodology of determining the air exchange building–environment by considering a new component of infiltration and its cyclic variation: the barometric pressure. A new mechanism of natural air infiltration is determined and modeled and it should be added to the existing ones: wind action and stack effect. A complete methodology of analysis and extraction of the cyclic processes hidden in an envelope of stochastic variations is defined and applied with the support of signal processing techniques and spectral analysis. The refinement of the mathematical instrument was able to distinguish through a deterministic approach an influence of 3.19% of the new barometric component. Furthermore, with few adaptations, the methodology constructed in this study can be applied for investigation of the stack effect by considering the cyclic variation of the atmospheric temperature. Currently, the stack effect is analyzed only for average conditions of temperature, a simplistic approach that suggests a large potential for further improvement.