Numerical validation for natural ventilaion design

The aim of this study is to check the accuracy of a nodal model to predict correctly the flow fields involved inside a building by wind-induced pressure. The model is confronted to experimental tests involving a one-storey dwelling of 84 m² at a reduced scale of 1/10 placed in a wind tunnel facility. Different configurations are tested considering openings of different sizes for outside openings as well as for internal doors. For each configuration, various wind incidences are studied. The confrontation shows that the model is able to reproduce the experiment with a relative error of ±20% for situations involving velocity ratios of outside openings greater than 0.2. For lower velocity ratios, higher discrepancy is observed. From an engineering point of view, the results of the model are found acceptable for the evaluation of the potential of wind-driven ventilation of a given building.