Methodology for the evaluation of natural ventilation in buildings using a reduced-scale air model

Commercial office buildings predominantly are designed to be ventilated and cooled using mechanical systems. In temperate climates, passive ventilation and cooling techniques can be utilized to reduce energy consumption while maintaining occupant comfort using natural ventilation. However, current modeling techniques have limitations and assumptions that reduce their effectiveness in predicting internal building performance. There are few tools to predict the thermal performance of and resulting airflow patterns in naturally ventilated office buildings accurately. This thesis presents three significant contributions for the evaluation of natural ventilation in buildings: * A methodology for assessing the performance of naturally ventilated buildings through a reduced-scale air model was developed based on dimensional analysis and similitude criteria. Buoyancy, wind, and combined ventilation strategies for a multi-zoned commercial office building with an open floor plan layout were evaluated using the reduced-scale model. * Guidelines were established for monitoring natural ventilated buildings as a means to evaluate their operation, based on field measurements of a prototype building were established. * A framework for evaluating current techniques for modeling airflow patterns in naturally ventilated buildings was developed, including guidelines for model development and analysis. Data from the reduced-scale model were compared to the data obtained from monitoring a prototype building and then used in creating numerical simulations.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Walker, Christine E. (Christine Elaine)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Leon R. Glicksman.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/34415
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/34415

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34415