Optimization of window type and vent parameters on single-sided natural ventilation buildings

Abstract

The residential building sector is one of the major areas to reduce energy demand. In this study, the single-sided top vent-based natural ventilation parameters are optimized using Taguchi technique. The computational fluid dynamics tool is used to simulate the room model. The grid sensitivity analysis is executed to predict more precise results. The operating parameters for top vent and window-based ventilation investigated are top vent width, top vent height, the location of the top vent, the number of top vents and window type with different levels. The orthogonal array, L8, is selected for the conduct of experiments. The signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance technique are used to optimize the results. The optimized results showed that the maximum top vent width, top vent height and more number of vents with higher window opening area reduce the maximum indoor air temperature and increase the mass flow rate of a single-sided residential room. Of all, around 60.64% numbers of top vents contributed to indoor temperature reduction. In addition, thermal exergy is also investigated on various vent sectional planes.