Integration of a multizone airflow model into a thermal simulation program

An existing computer model for dynamic hygrothermal analysis of buildings has been extended with a multizone airflow model based on loop equations to account for the coupled thermal and airflow in natural and hybrid ventilated buildings. In water distribution network and related fields loop equations have been widely used to resolve the flow of water and other fluids. In the field of natural ventilation the loop equation method have rarely been used in spite of its quality. Mainly due to problems with automatically setting up the independent loops. The model described in this paper uses a methodology adopted from water distribution network that automatically sets up the independent loops and is easy to implement into a computer program. Finally an example of verification of the model is given which demonstrates the ability of the models to accurately predict the airflow of a simple multizone building.