Thermal plumes in ventilated rooms - vertical volume flux influenced by enclosing walls.

The flow rate in thermal plumes are influenced by many factors. Influence by enclosing walls is one of them. This article presents simple symmetry considerations to calculate the flow rate in such flows, and they are experimentally verified as regards wall plumes. When the flow takes place near to enclosing walls the entrainment is influenced and a reduction of the flow rate is observed. For displacement ventilation this means a reduction of the stipulated necessary ventilating air flow rate when an air quality based design method is used.