Theoretical and field study of air change in industrial buildings.

The air leakages can have a large impact on heating needs and thermal comfort in industrial buildings. This is sometimes poorly taken into account, both due to the lack of theoretical approach and knowledge of air tightness. We present the application of the calculation code SIREN95 in this field and its validation against field measurements.""The field study concerns five average industrial buildings, in which different tasks have been carried out: air tightness measurements, using pressurisation method, two series of measurements of air change with a tracer gas method (decay), field measurements during a whole heating season.""Weekly energy balances were calculated using the results of field measurements - and the air changes calculated by SIREN95. They showed a good agreement between heat gains (internal and solar) and heat losses (through the envelope, air change).