New and innovative wind catcher designs to improve indoor air quality in buildings

Abstract

Wind catchers used in various countries in Middle East and North Africa in order to improve indoor air environment and to reduce reliance on cooling load. However, nowadays they are used across the globe with modern shapes and advanced techniques. The study focuses on investigating new and innovative shapes of wind catchers to improve air speed indoors which will elevate indoor comfort and air quality in buildings. The study used computer modeling CFD and a real model experiment to conduct the study. The study highlighted that curved shapes have highest pattern of wind speed driven, especially curved shape with double inlets. In addition, the study showed that octagon shape has the lowest pattern of wind speed driven because of its various sides which prevent air to flow easily inside the tunnel.