Ventilation of buildings in urban areas may result in high internal concentrations of traffic pollutants if air intakes are positioned where external concentrations are highest. This paper presents the results of a wind tunnel study into different wind-driven natural ventilation strategies for a building situated close to a busy road.
Analytical solutions are derived for calculating natural ventilation flow rates in a single-zone building with two openings when no thermal mass is present. In these solutions, the independent variables are the heat source strength and wind speed, rather than given indoor air temperatures. Three air change rate parameters a, B and y are introduced to characterise respectively the thermal buoyancy force, the conduction heat loss effect, and the wind force. The wind can either assist the buoyancy force or oppose it.
The present paper discusses issues related to the potential of natuml ventilation techniques whenapplied to urban environment and in particular to buildings located in canyons. The paperdiscusses the specific phenomena related to air flow prcmsses in urban cauyons and presentssome of the existing methods to calculate the wiad speed distribution into the canyons.Wind speed and temperature data have been collected through experiments catried out in tendifferent urban canyons presenting different characteristics, during summer 1997.
The paper presents further then an integrated model the supporting methodology that allowsto assess natural urban ventilation conditions both outside and inside constructions.Though some particular aspects arid procedures can be complex and time consuming thegeneral structure is quite simple:1. to establish wind regimes as a boundary condition - information can come from windmeasurements at undisturbed areas Like airports;2. to integrate these regimes within the site - using numerical models to transfer information tothe site;3.
This paper identifies successful ways of applying natural ventilation to non domestic buildings locatedin urban areas. Whilst noise and contaminant pollution sources are a problem methods of avoiding theseemissions are discussed. A review of literature has established that pollution problems arise for buildingswhich are in close proximity to roads, railways, airports and local industries. Location of ventilation airinlets will affect the quality of indoor air, therefore it is essential that they are located in ways thatminimise the ingress of external pollutants.
A wind tunnel study was carried out to investigate the airflow through courtyard and atrium building models. Ventilation strategies resulting from the use of different atrium roof pressure regimes (positive pressure and suction) were examined and compared with the performance of the open courtyard. The model buildings were monitored both in isolation and in idealised urban environments of varying group layout densities. The effect of wind direction was also observed.
The aim of this research was to investigate the flow pattern around a test room which is used for natural ventilation studies. The test cell effectively represents an in-fill development of a low-rise building located adjacent to high-rise buildings. When considering natural ventilation in a building in such a location it is beneficial to understand the local wind flow patterns resulting from the impact of the surrounding buildings on the prevailing wind conditions.