Airflow through louvers: an experimental and CFD study.

In this study a series of parametric laboratory measurements were made of the velocitiesoutside, ve, and inside, vi, a full-scale louver positioned in a rectangular opening located in avertical wall forming part of a 1m x 1m x 2m deep model room. The louver parametersexamined, for external incident wind speeds from 0.6 to 2.5 m/s, included louver blade depth(L), aperture (d) and distance from the louver in to room (Rd). For this initial study the bladesof the louvers for each experiment were horizontal with an inclination angle ? of 0. It wasconcluded that louver aperture dimensions and distance from louver both played major rolesin determining the magnitude of the velocity drop, whilst the effect on vi/ve of louver depthdimensions was smaller. Experimental results were compared against velocity drop valuespredicted by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program FLUENT. A comparisonbetween the experimental data and the CFD predicted results showed a generally goodagreement for positions close to the internal surface of the louver. Further in to the room thecomparisons showed a greater divergence.