This paper outlines the results and lessons derived from monitoring the Elizabeth Fry Building at the University of East Anglia (UEA) for a period of 18 months in use. The monitoring, carried out as part of the Department of Environment, Transport and the Region's Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme, sought to examine the performance of the building as a whole rather than focusing on one particular element.
Forty subjects, 20 women and 20 men, were exposed to airflows from five different directions: horizontally towards the front, the back, and the left side and vertically upwards and downwards. The subjects were exposed to stepwise increased air velocities ranging from less than 0.10 m/s to 0.40 m/s at three temperature levels 20, 23 and 26°C. The results showed that airflow direction has an impact on perceived discomfort due to draught. At 20°C and 23°C, airflow from below was perceived as most uncomfortable followed by airflows towards the back and front.
A numerical model, employing a local-averaging formulation was developed for heat transfer and water vapor deposition within fiberglass insulation under air exfiltration and frosting conditions. Frost growth on the cold surface was modeled using special frost growth boundary conditions. Non-isotropic permeability effects that occur in fiberglass boards were included in the mode/for porous medium flow because tests showed that the permeability for flow parallel to the plane of the boards was 69% higher than perpendicular to the insulation boards.
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