English

The UK factory stock is predominantly naturally ventilated. Measurements performed in this class of building have indicated that air infiltration rates in factories are usually excessive in relation to occupants' requirements for health and safety, resulting in an energy penalty. As part of a project to investigate construction options for energy efficient industrial buildings, three factories of different cladding construction types were designed and then built at Aberarnan, South Wales.

New Zealand homes have traditionally been ventilated through open windows and by background infiltration. In recent times, new materials and construction practices have led to more airtight buildings, and open windows are seen more and more as a security risk. These trends call for new ventilation options that are inexpensive and consistent with home security, weathertightness and draught control. This paper is part one of a study of passive ventilation options for NZ homes.

The adequate ventilation of houses is essential for both the occupants and the building fabric. As air-tightness standards increase, background infiltration levels decrease and extra ventilation has to be designed into the building. Passive stack ventilation has many advantages - particularly when employed in low cost housing schemes - but it is essential that it performs satisfactorily. This paper give the results from monitoring two passive stack ventilation schemes.

Computational fluid dynamics has been used for assessing the thermal comfort and air quality in an office ventilated with a displacement system for a range of supply air conditions. Thermal comfort is predicted by incorporating Fanger's comfort equations in the airflow model. Indoor air quality is assessed according to the predicted contaminant concentration and local mean age of air. The performance of the displacement ventilation system is then evaluated based on the predicted thermal comfort and indoor air quality.

The airflow between a warm room and cool exterior can be significantly affected by an external headwind. Pollutant concentrations within the space depend on the relative sizes of the wind and the undisturbed stack driven flow. Two scenarios are described. Firstly, a space is filled initially with buoyant polluted air. The space is then naturally ventilated through a single opening. In the "no wind" case, a gravity current of external air flows into the space. All the polluted air is expelled from the room.

The paper summarises an approach to determining the equations governing the air flow through simple cracks subject to fluctuating pressures. To this end, an experimental arrangement has been developed that enables the laboratory simulation of fluctuating driving pressure signals. A standard straight crack was subjected to this signal, which fluctuates in both magnitude and frequency. An air control system permits a high level of fluctuating pressure control.

The acquisition of temperatures and velocities is a permanent recurrent task for the investigation of air flow in ventilated rooms. On the one hand it is important to measure the temperature and velocity field with a high spatial resolution. On the other hand, in general, varying outdoor conditions prevent from reaching a steady state and an additonal demand consists in short measuring times. Sometimes, the obtained measuring results are used both to supply appropriate boundary conditions for numerical computations and to verify the CFD-codes used.

The reason for the present project is the need for more reliable information about the actual ventilation conditions in naturally ventilated, detached houses. The aim has been to quantify the ventilation and humidity conditions and to establish a better basis for elaborating directions and guidelines on proper ventilation of detached houses. A national questionnaire survey covering more than 2100 households has been carried out, together with detailed investigations in about 150 houses.

The aim of the study was to identify methods for the renovation of ventilation systems in domestic buildings which are 3 - 8 storeys high. Three typical buildings were selected and the problems in ventilation were examined. The designers made their proposals for repairs and the research team analyzed the solutions and made improvements. The special problems compared with new buildings included less airtight building envelopes and leakages in existing ventilation ducts.

The present case study refers to a larger office building in Sweden. The employees in this building, which was built in 1982, began to complain about the indoor environment around 1985-86. A preliminary examination of the building started in 1989. The preliminary investigation showed that the concrete framed floors were levelled off with self levelling compound containing casein and that there were relatively high concentrations of ammonia under the PVC-flooring.