Indoor air modelling and infection risk assessment in a naturally ventilated patient room

Sufficient ventilation in clinics is critical for diluting virus concentrations and lowering subsequent doses inhaled by the occupants. Several advanced simulation methods and tools for building physics and indoor air fluid dynamics are currently available in research and industry. However, in naturally ventilated buildings, indoor air distribution depends strongly on local and dynamically changing conditions, e.g., opening sizes and time, exhaust shaft location, and climatic and weather conditions.

Cooling potential of natural ventilation in representative climates of central and southern Europe

This study analyses the climate-dependent passive ventilative cooling (PVC) potential in central and southern Europe. This analysis was carried out in two phases: (1) evaluation of PVC potential as a climate-dependent variable, in different locations representative of European climate zones for both wind-drive airflow (comfort ventilation) and temperature gradient (environmental and structural cooling); (2) verification of the above PVC potential through dynamic energy simulations on a reference-building model located in selected cities.

Geo-climatic applicability of natural ventilative cooling in the Mediterranean area

The present study aims at assessing the geo-climatic potential applicability of controlled natural ventilation (CNV) as a natural ventilative cooling (NVC) technique in the Mediterranean area. This assessment was carried following two approaches: (1) a climate-dependent evaluation of the NVC potential of different locations considering a “virtual space”; (2) a calculation of the NVC potential of different locations considering a “real” building through dynamic energy simulations.

The Influence of Different Hourly Typical Meteorological Years on Dynamic Simulation of Buildings

This paper presents a parametric study on the effect of different TMY (Typical Meteorological Year) datasets on the results of energy dynamic simulation. The analysis was carried out running the software Design Builder with EnergyPlus code on a sample residential building located in three Italian cities and using two different TMY data sets: EnergyPlus and CTI (Italian Thermo- Technical Committee).

Validation of Dynamic Model BSim to Predict the Performance of Ventilative Cooling in a Single Sided Ventilated Room

Ventilative cooling (VC) is an application (distribution in time and space) of air flow rates to reduce cooling loads in spaces using outside air driven by natural, mechanical or hybrid ventilation strategies. VC reduces overheating in both existing and new buildings - being both a sustainable and energy efficient solution to improve indoor thermal comfort. VC is promising low energy cooling technology that has potential to substantially reduce the use of mechanical cooling in airtight and highly insulated buildings.

Optimization of the airtightness and the flow rate of air in nearly zero energy buildings

The control of heat losses, inwards/out, in nearly zero energy buildings is of high importance. The transmission losses through the building envelope are easily reduced using larger amounts of insulation. Calculation of the impact of this action on the total energy demand of the building, is quite standard. It’s however much more difficult to determine the efficiency of actions to increase the airtightness of the building and the influence of the ventilation system.

Airtightness, Air Exchange and Energy Performance in Historic Residential Buildings with Different Structures

Old buildings that represent and maintain historic values often have poor indoor conditions and energy efficiency. The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of building structures on airtightness and energy performance of certain historic building types. In this study on-site measurements, dynamic simulation and questionnaires were used. Significant differences between the levels of the airtightness of the historic houses exist in the studied region. No statistically significant correlation was found between the structure types and the envelope tightness.

The use of a zonal model to calculate the stratification in a large building

In the past, many churches were raised and in a church building no heating no heating system was installed, except a simple individual coal or peat stove, which could be rented by the churchgoers. The thick high stone walls of the church alleviated the fluctuations of the ambient air temperature and relative humidity. Accordingly, the indoor climate in the church building was quite stable. After the Second World War the living standard of the people increased and the increased prosperity also led to higher comfort demands in churches.

Building energy analysis and simulation of Changsha area

In this paper, the potential of energy saving in residential building in Changsha area was studied with dynamic simulation approaches. As we know that cooling and heating are both required more or less in this climate zone considering the climate condition and solar radiation may be advantaged for winter but disadvantaged for summer. This simulation was made to analyze the effect on the air conditioning energy consumption from four aspects: the material of the exterior wall thermal insulation, the window glass type, exterior window shades, and the indoor lighting control.

Facade design optimization for daylight with a simple genetic algorithm

The aim of the present study was to determine the applicability of a genetic algorithm for the optimization of daylighting systems, as well as the requirements for the lighting simulations to be used. Furthermore, by testing the daylighting performance of a building's facade when several parameters are allowed to change simultaneously, the results were used as a complement of previous parametric studies. The goal of the optimization was to maximize energy savings by reducing visual discomfort while maintaining good daylight penetration.

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