This paper reports the results of computer simulations of a hybrid-ventilated building using ESP-r (Environmental Systems Performance for research). A new school building in Norway was used for this simulation study. The research attempted to verify the use of this model for the simulation of a real building utilising hybrid ventilation technologies. The simulations and their analysis focus on the buildings thermal and ventilation performance.
This study, which formed part of the Annex 35 Hybrid Ventilation in New and Retrofitted Office Buildings project, was completed at LEPTAB and supported by the French Research Ministry and the ADEME (Agence De lEnvironnement et de la Matrise de lEnergie). It consisted of modelling a typical classroom and comparing different control strategies to estimate the performance of a hybrid ventilation system for different climates.
The demand for buildings with high quality indoor environments is growing, especially in developing countries, where more and more energy will be consumed in the near future. Air flow pattern, air temperature and humidity are among the main parameters that contribute to indoor thermal comfort. Care must be taken to design the most energy-efficient air distribution system that provides comfort for the occupants. To achieve this it is very helpful to know the air flow patterns and the temperature and humidity field in a building at the design stage.
It is well known that iterative solution processes can lead to divergence when dealing with coupled airflow and thermal analyses for buildings ventilated either naturally or by a mixed-mode system. The Newton-Raphson method or its variants are used in almost all existing multi-zone airflow models. This paper discusses the qualitative features of the iterative solution processes of the Newton-Raphson method when used for coupled thermal and ventilation analyses of a simple one-zone building with two openings.