Assesment of the indoor condition of a naturally ventilated nursery school in Rome

The ventilation system in nursery buildings requires particular care to guarantee the safety of children[1,2]. When suitable outdoor conditions occur, natural ventilation can provide an appropriate indoorenvironment in terms of temperature, humidity and concentration of contaminants, if the designprocess is coherently developed taking into account the characteristics of the prevailing winds [3].This study investigates numerically the fluid dynamic behaviour occurring in a naturally ventilatedpreschool building designed for the municipality of Rome. The air flow rate available is investigated forthe prevailing winds with a CFD code, in order to simulate and investigate the quality of theenvironment where children live.The results of the simulations show good overall behaviour of the environment-building integratedsystem in different seasonal conditions.In the intermediate seasons the particular geometry of the buildings means that the breezes comingfrom the south west can be efficiently caught.Classroom air change is sufficient to create good conditions in term of air quality.In summer, the building can be efficiently cooled at night by opening all the windows and louvres tocatch efficiently the cool catabatic wind. During the daytime the building is closed to reduce thethermal load.