Simulation study on indoor thermal environment improvement in multi-story buildings assisted by natural ventilation

Abstract

Buoyancy-driven natural ventilation has the potential to improve the indoor thermal environment without any energy consumption. In this study, the applicability of the dimensionless area design method was studied, and the airflow rate and excess temperature deviation of rooms on different floors were verified. The results demonstrate that the airflow rates on the first, second and third floors are 887.68, 861.84 and 820.93 m3/h, respectively, and the corresponding airflow rates per capita are 88.77, 86.18 and 82.09 m3/h, respectively. In addition, the average indoor temperatures on the first, second and third floors are 298.78, 299.05 and 299.58 K, respectively, with corresponding excess temperatures of 5.72, 5.99 and 6.52 K. The deviation of airflow rate in the room is within the range of 0.59%-4.2%, indicating that the dimensionless area design method is suitable for designing naturally ventilated buildings.