Unstable interaction between shear layers that form in the wake of an isolated building exposed to wind can drive natural pumping ventilation in windward and leeward facing rooms with two or more horizontally separated openings. This paper presents an experimental and numerical study of pumping ventilation in a three-story cubic building with two leeward openings in its middle floor. Reduced-scaled measurements were performed in the University of Gävle atmospheric-boundary-layer wind tunnel. The ventilation mechanism was investigated using smoke visualization, hot wire anemometry and particle image velocimetry. Effective ventilation rates were obtained using a tracer gas decay method. Experimental results confirmed that pumping ventilation is a 3D oscillatory unstable phenomenon with periodic behavior over several oscillation cycles. Measured flowrates show a linear relation between the effective ventilation rate and window separation. The numerical simulations used two turbulence modeling approaches: unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and large eddy simulation (LES). Both URANS and LES could predict vortex shedding frequency with an error below 5%. LES showed a good agreement with the measured ventilation rates, with an error below 10%, while URANS underestimated ventilation rates by at least 40%. The ventilation efficiency, obtained by LES, ranged between 0.60 and 0.75 (for the case with larger window separation). The results show that LES may be a suitable simulation approach for pumping ventilation. In contrast, URANS cannot simulate pumping ventilation.

The corner impinging jet concept has been proposed as a new air distribution system for use in office environments. The present paper reports the mean flow field behavior of an isothermal corner-based turbulent impinging jet in a room. A detailed experimental study is carried out to validate the numerical simulations, and the predictions are performed using three turbulence models. RNG k−ε model was chosen for this study. This study investigates the influence different configuration parameters such as jet discharge height, diffuser geometry (shape and size) and supply airflow rate have on the flow field. The results show that the diffuser geometries used in this study had in general a minor effect on the velocity developments along the centerline of the floor, maximum velocity decay and jet spreading rate except for some specific cases. When evaluating the triangle geometry cases, the results show that all the cases with volume flow <20 L/s are able to meet Boverket's building regulations velocity requirement both for summer and winter. The applicability evaluation show that the results can be considered for room sizes between ≈25 and 100 m2. In addition, the wall confinement effect (90° vs. 180°) is having a significant impact on the maximum velocity decay for corner impinging jet ventilation. In the regression analysis the results shows that the distance along the diagonal centerline of the room has the most impact on the evaluation of maximum velocity decay and jet spreading rate.

In developed countries, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for more than 10% of national energy use. The primary function of a HVAC system is to create proper indoor environment. A number of ventilation strategies have been developed to minimize HVAC systems’ energy use whilst still maintaining a good indoor environment. Among these strategies are confluent jet ventilation and variable air volume. In this study, an air supply device with a novel nozzle design that uses both of the above-mentioned strategies was investigated both experimentally and numerically at three different airflow rates. The results from the numerical investigation using the SST k - ω turbulence model regarding velocities and flow patterns are validated by experimental data carried out by Laser Doppler Anemometry. The results from both studies show that the flow pattern and velocity in each nozzle is directly dependent on the total airflow rate. However, the flow pattern does not vary between the three different airflow rates. The numerical investigation shows that velocity profiles for each nozzle have the same pattern regardless of the airflow rate, but the magnitude of the velocity profile increases as the airflow increases. Thus, a supply device of this kind could be used for variable air volume and produce confluent jets for the airflow rates investigated.

Outdoor urban ventilation in a real complex urban area is investigated by introducing a new ventilation indicator – the "air delay". Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are performed using the 3D steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) approaches. The up-to-date literature shows the lack of detailed evaluations of the two approaches for real compact urban areas. This study further presents a systematic evaluation of steady RANS and LES for the assessment of the ventilation conditions in a dense district in Nicosia, Cyprus. The ventilation conditions within the urban area are investigated by calculating the distribution of the age of air. To better assess the outdoor ventilation, a new indicator, the "air delay" is introduced as the difference between the local mean age of air at an urban area and that in an empty domain with the same computational settings, allowing the comparison of the results in different parts of the domain, without impact of the boundary conditions. CFD results are validated using wind-tunnel measurements of mean wind speed and turbulence intensity performed for the same urban area. The results show that LES can accurately predict the mean wind speed and turbulence intensity with the average deviations of about 6% and 14%, respectively, from the wind-tunnel measurements while for the steady RANS, these are 8% and 31%, respectively. The steady RANS simulations overestimate the local mean air delay. The deviation between the two approaches is 52% at pedestrian level (2 m).

There is a new trend to convert the workplaces from individual office rooms to open offices for motivating money saving and better communication. With such a shift the ability of existing ventilation systems in meeting the new requirements is a challenging question for researchers. The available options could have an impact on workers' health in terms of providing acceptable levels of thermalcomfort and indoor air quality. Thus, this experimental investigation focuses on the performances of three different air distribution systems in an open-plan office space. The investigated systems were: mixing ventilation with ceiling-mounted inlets, confluent jets ventilation and underfloor air distribution with straight and curved vanes. Although this represents a small part of our more extensiveexperimental investigation, the results show that all the purposed stratified ventilation systems (CJV and UFAD) were more or less behaving as mixing systems with some tendency for displacement effects. Nevertheless, it is known that the mixing systems have a stable flow pattern but has the disadvantage of mixing contaminated air with the fresh supplied air which may produce lower performance and in worst cases occupants' illness. For the open-plan office we studied here, it will be shown that the new systems are capable of performing better than the conventional mixing systems. As expected, the higher air exchange efficiency in combination with lower local mean age of air for corner-mounted CJV and floor-mounted UFAD grills systems indicates that these systems are suitable for open-plan offices and are to be favored over conventional mixing systems.

There are tools that are developed for the assessment of the environmental impact of buildings (e.g. ATHENA). Other tools dealing with the indoor and outdoor environmental quality of building properties (referred to as real estates in other literature) are also available (e.g. GBTool). A platform where both the aspects of quality and impact are presented in an integrated fashion are few. The aim of this contribution is to present how the performance of different building properties can be assessed and compared using the concept of environmental efficiency in a Swedish assessment tool called EcoEffect. It presents the quality dimension in the form of users' satisfaction covering indoor and outdoor performance features against the weighted environmental impact covering global and local impacts. The indoor and outdoor values are collected using questionnaires combined with inspection and some measurements. Life cycle methodology is behind the calculation of the weighted external environmental impact. A case study is presented to show the application of EcoEffect using a comparative assessment of Lindas and a Reference property. The results show that Lindas block is better in internal environment quality than the Reference property. It performs slightly worse than the Reference property in the external environmental impact due to emissions and waste from energy and material use. The approach of integrated presentation of quality and impact as in EcoEffect provides with the opportunity of uncovering issues problem shifting and sub-optimisation. This avoids undesirable situations where the indoor quality is improved through measures that result in higher external environmental impact. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The EcoEffect method of assessing external and internal impacts of building properties is briefly described. The external impacts of manufacturing and transport of the building materials, the generation of power and heat consumed during the operation phase are assessed using life-cycle methodology. Emissions and waste; natural resource depletion and toxic substances in building materials are accounted for. Here methodologies from natural sciences are employed. The internal impacts involve the assessment of the risk for discomfort and ill-being due to features and properties of both the indoor environment and outdoor environment within the boundary of the building properties. This risk is calculated based on data and information from questionnaires; measurements and inspection where methodologies mainly from social sciences are used. Life-cycle costs covering investment and utilities costs as well as maintenance costs summed up over the lifetime of the building are also calculated.

The result presentation offers extensive layers of diagrams and data tables ranging from an aggregated diagram of environmental efficiency to quantitative indicators of different aspects and factors. Environmental efficiency provides a relative measure of the internal quality of a building property in relation to its external impact vis-à-vis its performance relative to other building properties.

Corner rooms with two or more open windows in perpendicular facades can be naturally ventilated in cross-ventilation or pumping ventilation. These two airflow regimes also occur in rooms with two openings in the same façade, in the form of single sided pumping or cross sided ventilation. This paper presents an experimental and numerical simulation study of the scale and occurrence of these two flow regimes for rooms in a rectangular building exposed to wind. Flow visualization and tracer gas measurement of effective airflow were performed in an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel using a rectangular model of a three-story building (1/20 scale) with a ventilated middle floor. Experimental results show that pumping ventilation occurs when the wind is perpendicular to the façade (single sided rooms) or aligned with the building corner (corner rooms). In addition to these two perfectly aligned wind directions, pumping also occurs for a range of incoming wind angles: ±19° for single sided; and ±9° for corner rooms. As a result, for isolated rectangular buildings that have, at least, one single sided and two corner rooms in each facade, pumping ventilation can potentially occur in two or more rooms for 62 % of incoming wind directions. To investigate the transition between steady cross-ventilation and unsteady pumping ventilation, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics large eddy simulations were performed to obtain wind generated pressures in the ventilation openings. Results show that the transition from cross-ventilation to pumping occurs when the steady pressure becomes smaller than the unsteady component. These results are used to develop a pressure based simplified model for corner ventilation that can predict effective airflow from external wind generated pressures with an average error below 10.2 %. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

A micro/macro-level approach (MMLA) has been proposed which makes it possible for HVAC engineers to easily study the effect of diffuser characteristics and diffuser placement on thermal comfort and indoor air quality. In this article the MMLA has been used to predict the flow and thermal behavior of the air in the near-zone of a complex low-velocity diffuser. A series of experiment has been carried out to validate the numerical predictions in order to ensure that simulations can be used with confidence to predict indoor airflow. The predictions have been performed by means of steady Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) and the results have good agreement both qualitatively and quantitatively with measurements. However, measurements indicated that the diffusion of the velocity and temperature was to some extent under-predicted by the RSM, which might be related to high instability of the airflow close to the diffuser. This effect might be captured by employing unsteady RSM. The present study also shows the importance of detailed inlet supply modeling in the accuracy of indoor air prediction.

The aim of this study was to compare ventilation performance of four different air supply devices in an office environment with respect to thermal comfort, ventilation efficiency and energy-saving potential, by performing numerical simulations. The devices have the acronyms: Mixing supply device (MSD), Wall confluent jets supply device (WCJSD), Impinging jet supply device (IJSD) and Displacement supply device (DSD). Comparisons were made under identical set-up conditions, as well as at the same occupied zone temperature of about 24.2°C achieved by adding different heat loads and using different air-flow rates. Energy-saving potential was addressed based on the air-flow rate and the related fan power required for obtaining a similar occupied zone temperature for each device. Results showed that the WCJSD and IJSD could provide an acceptable thermal environment while removing excess heat more efficiently than the MSD, as it combined the positive effects of both mixing and stratification principles. This benefit also meant that this devices required less fan power than the MSD for obtaining equivalent occupant zone temperature. The DSD showed a superior performance on heat removal, air exchange efficiency and energy saving to all other devices, but it had difficulties in providing acceptable vertical temperature gradient between the ankle and neck levels for a standing person. 

Impinging jet ventilation (IN) has been proposed to achieve an effective ventilation of an occupied zone in office and industrial buildings. For IJV systems, draught discomfort is the issue of most concern since it supplies cooled air directly to the occupied zone. This study investigated a number of factors influencing draught discomfort and temperature stratification in an office environment equipped with IJV. The factors considered were: shape of air supply device, discharge height, supply airflow rate and supply air temperature. The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to identify the level of the significance of the parameters studied, as well as to develop the predictive models for the local thermal discomfort. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was employed to perform a set of required studies, and each simulation condition was determined by the Box-Behnken design (BBD) method. The results indicated that at a low discharge height, the shape of air supply device had a major impact on the flow pattern in the vicinity of the supply device because of the footprint from impinging jet, which consequently affected the draught risk level in the occupied zone. A square-shaped air supply device was found to result in lower overall draught discomfort than rectangular and semi-elliptic shapes. The RSM analysis revealed that the supply airflow rate had a significant impact on the draught discomfort, while the shape of air supply device and discharge height had moderate effects. The temperature stratification in the occupied zone was mostly influenced by the supply air temperature within the range studied.

This paper presents the flow and temperature field within an office using impinging jet ventilation (IJV) under different heat loads ranging from 17 to 65 W per square meter floor area. The measurement was carried out in a full-scale test room to verify the reliability of three turbulence models, i.e., the RNG k-epsilon, SST k-omega and (nu(2)) over bar - f models. It is found that all the tested models show good agreements with measurements, while the (nu(2)) over bar - f model shows the best performance, especially on the overall temperature prediction. The (nu(2)) over bar - f model is used further to investigate a number of important factors influencing the performance of the IJV. The considered parameters are: cooling effect of chilled ceiling, external heat load as well as its position, number of occupants and supplied air conditions. The interaction effect of chilled ceiling and heat sources results in a complex flow phenomenon but with a notable feature of air circulation. The appearance and strength of the air circulation mainly depends on the external heat load on window and number of occupants. It is found that with higher external heat load on window (384 W and 526 W), the air circulation has a strong tendency towards the side wall in the opposite direction to occupant, while with lower power on window (200 W) the air circulation has a strong tendency in the center of the room and extends to a larger area. When two occupants are present, two swirling zones are formed in the upper region. The effects of air circulation consequently alter the temperature field and the level of local thermal comfort.

The impinging jet concept has been proposed as a new ventilation strategy for use in office and industrial buildings. The present paper reports the mean flow field behavior of an isothermal turbulent impinging jet in a room. The detailed experimental study is carried out to validate the numerical simulations, and the predictions are performed by means of the RNG k-ε and SST k-ω model. The comparisons between the predictive results and the experimental data reveal that both of the tested turbulence models are capable of capturing the main qualitative flow features satisfactorily. It is found that the predictions from the RNG k-ε model predicts slightly better of the maximum velocity decay as jet approaching the floor, while the SST k-ω model accords slightly better in the region close to the impingement zone.

Another important perspective of this study is to investigate the influence of different flow and configuration parameters such as jet discharge height, diffuser geometry, supply airflow rate and confinement from the surrounding environment on the impinging jet flow field with the validated model. The obtained data are presented in terms of the jet dimensionless velocity distribution, maximum velocity decay and spreading rate along the centerline of the floor. The comparative results demonstrate that all the investigated parameters have certain effects on the studied flow features, and the diffuser geometry is found to have the most appreciable impact, while the supply airflow rate is found to have marginal influence within the moderate flow range. 

Optimizing urban ventilation is an effective way to improve urban air quality and thermal environment. For this purpose, under the validation of wind-tunnel experiments, flow regimes and micro thermal environment in typical reduced-canyon models with aspect ratios (AR) of 1.1, 2.4, 4 and 5.67 were investigated by CFD simulations using periodic boundary condition. ANSYS Fluent 15.0 with a solar ray tracing model and radiation model was performed to numerically study turbulence characteristics with wind-driven force and solar-heating conditions. Results revealed that, with wind-driven condition, a clockwise vortex existed in normal and deep street canyon (AR = 1.1 and 2.4) while two counter-rotating vortices appeared in extremely deep canyon (AR = 4 and 5.67). Moreover, different turbulence structures and air temperature distribution existed in canyons with different solar-heating conditions. When the leeward wall or ground was heated, the pedestrian-level velocity increased and street ventilation was strengthened compared to wind-driven condition for all AR values. Particularly, the single main vortex was strengthened (AR = 1.1 and 2.4), and the two-vortex structure in extremely deep canyons (AR = 4 and 5.67) changed to single-vortex structure. When the windward wall was heated, the clockwise main vortex at AR = 1.1 and 2.4 was deformed, and a new sub vortex gradually appeared near street bottom. Furthermore, at AR = 4 and 5.67, windward solar heating destroyed the two-vortex structure and slightly improved pollutant dilution capacity. This work implied that extremely deep street design with weak pedestrian-level ventilation should be avoided. It also provides a meaningful reference for urban planning.

Improving city breathability has been confirmed as one feasible measure to improve pollutant dilution in the urban canopy layer (UCL). Building height variability enhances vertical mixing, but its impacts remain not completely explored. Therefore, both wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations are used to investigate the effect of building height variations (six height standard deviations σH = 0%–77.8%) associated to building packing densities namely λp/λf = 0.25/0.375 (medium-density) and 0.44/0.67 (compact) on city breathability. Two bulk variables (i.e. the in-canopy velocity (UC) and exchange velocity (UE)) are adopted to quantify the horizontal and vertical city breathability respectively, which are normalized by the reference velocity (Uref) in the free flow, typically set at z = 2.5H0 where H0 is the mean building height. Both flow quantities and city breathability experience a flow adjustment process, then reach a balance. The adjustment distance is at least three times longer than four rows documented in previous literature. The medium-density arrays experience much larger UC and UE than the compact ones. UE is found mainly induced by vertical turbulent fluxes, instead of vertical mean flows. In height-variation cases, taller buildings experience larger drag force and city breathability than lower buildings and those in uniform-height cases. For medium-density and compact models with uniform height, the balanced UC/Uref are 0.124 and 0.105 respectively, moreover the balanced UE/Uref are 0.0078 and 0.0065. In contrast, the average UC/Uref in height-variation cases are larger (115.3%–139.5% and 125.7%–141.9% of uniform-height cases) but UE/Uref are smaller (74.4%–79.5% and 61.5%–86.2% of uniform-height cases) for medium-density and compact models. 

This paper reports CFD and experimental results of the characteristics of wall confluent jets in a room. The results presented show the behaviour of wall confluent jets in the form of velocity profiles, the spreading rate of jets on the surface, jets decay, etc. The empirical equations derived are compared with other types of air jets. In addition, the flow in wall confluent jets is compared with the flow in displacement ventilation supply, with regards to the vertical and horizontal spreading on the floor. It is concluded that the jet momentum of wall confluent jets can be more conserved than other jets. Thus, wall confluent jets have a greater spread over the floor than displacement flow. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The study aimed to explore the effects of inlet air temperature, outdoor air temperature, inlet bulk velocity, and the number of nozzles on wall confluent jets (WCJ) propagating along an external cold wall in a large space enclosure such as a greenhouse. A combination of experimental study and Response surface methodology has been used to predict the flow and thermal behavior of the WCJ for the studied cases. Box-Behnken design was used to determine the case matrix for four of the above-mentioned vital variables for non-isothermal cases. The experimental study employed constant current anemometers to measure the velocity and temperature of the WCJ. Results showed that the WCJ attached to the wall under both isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. This flow behavior suggests that the WCJ can be used to heat the external facades of large-space enclosures. All the stated variables were critical to the decay factor and decay rate of maximum velocity, albeit at varying levels. The velocity decayed faster with an increase in the inlet bulk velocity and outdoor air temperature. It also decayed faster as the number of nozzles and inlet air temperature decreased. The external wall surface temperature and the wall-heating effect increased as the momentum of the jet increased. The surface temperature on the external wall was most influenced by the inlet air temperature and least by the number of nozzles. Correlations of the second-order polynomial for the Response surface models that estimate the rate of velocity decay and temperature on the external wall were obtained.

The quantified recirculation of a contaminant in a local domain is an essential property of the ventilation efficiency in a room. The returning probability of a contaminant (α) generated in a local domain and its net escape probability (NEP) are essential information for understanding the structure of the contaminant concentration distribution in a room and for controlling the indoor air quality. Here, we propose the fundamental definitions of α and NEP and discuss their potential relation with the net escape velocity (NEV) concept. NEP is defined at a local point and/or local domain as the probability that a contaminant is exhausted directly through an exhaust outlet and does not re-circulate to the target local point/domain again. In a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, the minimum local domain in a room corresponds to the control volume (C.V.) of discretization; hence, NEP in a C.V. is assumed as the probability in a point without volume. In this study, the calculation results of α, NEP, and NEV distributions in a simple two-dimensional model room and a three-dimensional room with push-pull type ventilation system are demonstrated and discussed.

Passive chilled beams are often used to provide cooling or additional cooling when the ventilation system cannot cope with the whole cooling load. The advantage of passive cooling is that it is a silent cooling. Often the chilled beams are installed above a false ceiling and thereby the room is subdivided into two compartments. From the chilled beam a plume is generated. Make-up air (return air) needs to flow into the upper compartment to substitute the airflow generated by the chilled beam. Therefore openings for this purpose are installed in the false ceiling. Small openings constitute a resistance to the flow and the locations of the openings affect the flow pattern. The overall performance was studied in a mock-up of a real office by changing both the size and position of the openings for the make-up air. A uniform heating source was arranged by covering the floor with a heating foil. The best location and size of the openings were explored by both recording the heat absorbed by the beam and the temperature in the room. Minimum temperature attained in the room is the signature of the most efficient cooling. To achieve efficient cooling with a uniform floor-based heating source, two conditions must be fulfilled: a) the return opening area must be at least equal to the horizontal area of the chilled beam; b) the return air openings must be located at the perimeter of the room. In general we can expect conditions a) and b) to be applicable irrespective of type of heat, but for point sources we could achieve the best cooling by placing the return air opening above the heat source.

Activity-based offices are increasingly popular. However, productivity and well-being in these work environments have been little researched. The aims of this study were to quantitatively determine perception and use of the activity-based office environment in relation to self-rated productivity and well-being at work, and to identify important predictors of these outcomes. Four activity-based offices in a large Swedish government agency were surveyed 12 months after implementation.Two hundred and thirty-nine respondents were included in the analyses. Linear regression models, adjusted for relevant covariates, were constructed separately for predictors measuring satisfaction with different aspect of the environment (physical environment, privacy, communication, personalization, personal storage, IT functions and cleaning) and office use (the number of daily workspace switches, different workspaces used and the time spent looking for a workspace). Satisfaction with the physical environment, privacy and communication had the strongest positive association with self-rated productivity and well-being at work. Increased workspace switching was associated with higher productivity, while an increase in self-reported time spent searching for a workspace was associated with lower productivity and well-being. However, predictors related to office use generally explained only a small proportion of variance in the two outcomes. The results suggest that office developers should focus particularly on privacy needs but also on communication, personalization, smooth workspace switching and minimization of work time spent looking for available workspaces.

Studies are still required to understand how rural/marine wind remove ground-level pollutants released uniformly in street networks of high-rise urban areas. The link between building height variability and pollutant removal process still remains unclear. Several idealized urban-like neighbourhoods made of 9-row and 18-row small-scale high-rise square arrays (building width B = street width W, building packing density λ_p = 0.25) were first numerically studied with a parallel approaching wind and neglecting thermal effects. Normalized pollutant transport rates and pedestrian purging flow rate were applied to quantify the contribution of pollutant removal by mean flow and turbulent diffusion and their net purging capacity.

Results show that the prediction of isothermal turbulent flows agreed generally well with wind tunnel data. For 9-row arrays with building height variations (standard deviation of 0–57.1%) and the same average canopy height (H₀ = 2.33W), pollutant removal mainly depends on mean flows. Larger standard deviations tend to induce better pedestrian ventilation. In comparison to small and large standard deviations, medium values of 14.3–42.9% may experience smaller purging capacity by horizontal mean flows but significantly enhance that by vertical mean flows. For arrays with uniform heights, lowering aspect ratios (H/W = 2.33 and 2.67–1.5) or increasing street lengths (9-row to 18-row) may enhance the contribution of removing pollutants by turbulent diffusions across canopy roofs which may be similarly important as that by mean flows. Although further investigations are still required, this paper clarifies the relationship between building layouts, height variability and removal potential of ground-level pollutants in high-rise urban-like geometries.

We regarded high-rise cities as obstacles and channels to wind. We first studied wind conditions and ventilations in idealized high-rise long street models experimentally and numerically with a constant street width (W = 30 mm), variable street heights (H = 2 W, 2.5W, 3W, 4W), variable street lengths (L = 47.4W, 79W. 333W, 667W) and a parallel approaching wind. The flow rates penetrating into windward entries are a little larger than the reference flow rate in the far upstream free flow through the same area with windward entries in all models. The stream-wise velocity decreases along the street as some air leaves upwardly across street roofs. Near the leeward entry, there is a downward flow which brings some air into the street and results in an accelerating process. In the neighborhood scale long streets (L = 47.4W and 79W), wind in taller streets is stronger and the ventilation is better than a lower one. For the city scale long streets (L = 333W and 667W), a constant flow region exists where the vertical velocity is zero and the stream-wise velocity remains constant. In such regions, turbulent fluctuations across the street roof are more important to air exchange than vertical mean flows. In a taller street, the process to establish the constant flow conditions is longer and the normalized balanced horizontal flow rate is smaller than those in a lower street. In the city scale long streets, the turbulence exchange rate can be 5-10 times greater than the mean flow rate. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

It is an open question whether a street network of a city has a certain flow capacity characterizing the flow that can pass through the street network. It s our hypothesis that at least the simple street network has a certain flow capacity. With the purpose of exploring this we studied numerically and experimentally the flow capacity in some idealized long-street models continuously lined with buildings and exposed to a parallel approaching wind. The height of all the models is the same (H = 69 mm). Three groups of models were studied: models with the same uniform street width (W = H) but different lengths (L = 21.7H, 43.5H, 72.5H); models with the same length (L = 43.5H) but different uniform width (W = H, 2H, 4H); and models with a change of width at half distance, L/2. In the last of the three cases, the width of the upstream half was always the same (W1 = H), but there was a wider (W2 = 1.25H, 1.5H, 2H) or narrower (W2 = 0.75H, 0.5H) downstream half. We normalized flow rates by a reference flow rate equal to the flow rate through an opening far upstream with the same area as the windward entry. The normalized flow rate through the windward entry was about 1.0 in all cases. For a sufficiently long-street models, a flow balance is established, creating a fully developed region with a constant horizontal flow (flow capacity) and zero vertical mean velocity. The street length does not affect the flow capacity but as expected the width of the street affects the flow capacity.

Wind can provide relevantly clean external (rural) air into urban street network, i.e. city ventilation. The local mean age of air denotes the time it takes for the external air to reach a location after entering the urban canopy layer. The air exchange efficiency denotes the efficiency of flushing the street network with external air. However, difficulties exist in calculating the local mean age of air in a city due to open boundaries. The traditional experimental homogeneous emission method is adapted here in a CFD method to predict the urban local age of air and analyze the air exchange efficiency for city ventilation. Three simple city models are considered, including a round city model, a square city model and a long rectangular city with one main street parallel to the approaching wind or with two crossing streets. The difference in the city shape results in significant difference in the local mean age of air. In the round city of one narrow street, two inflows through street openings converge close to the city centre and exits through the street roof, so the air close to the city centre is relatively old and the air exchange efficiency is low (30%). For a round city with two crossing streets, a slightly non-parallel wind to the main street generates younger air and the higher air exchange efficiency in the city.

This paper investigates pollutant removal at pedestrian level in urban canopy layer (UCL) models of medium packing density (λ<inf>p</inf> = λ<inf>f</inf> = 0.25) using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Urban size, building height variations, wind direction and uniform wall heating are investigated. The standard and RNG k-ε turbulence models, validated against wind tunnel data, are used. The contribution of mean flows and turbulent diffusion in removing pollutants at pedestrian level is quantified by three indicators: the net escape velocity (NEV), the pollutant transport rate (PTR) across UCL boundaries and their contribution ratios (CR).Results show that under parallel approaching wind, after a wind-adjustment region, a fully-developed region develops. Longer urban models attain smaller NEV due to pollutant accumulation. Specifically, for street-scale models (~100 m), most pollutants are removed out across leeward street openings and the dilution by horizontal mean flows contributes mostly to NEV. For neighbourhood-scale models (~1 km), both horizontal mean flows and turbulent diffusion contribute more to NEV than vertical mean flows which instead produce significant pollutant re-entry across street roofs. In contrast to uniform height, building height variations increase the contribution of vertical mean flows, but only slightly influence NEV. Finally, flow conditions with parallel wind and uniform wall heating attain larger NEV than oblique wind and isothermal condition.The paper proves that by analysing the values of the three indicators it is possible to form maps of urban breathability according to prevailing wind conditions and known urban morphology that can be of easy use for planning purposes. 

Air infiltration in ancient churches and other historical and monumental buildings is of great importance considering moisture transfer, energy consumption, thermal comfort and air pollutants that induce surface soiling. Two of the most established models for predicting air infiltration rate in buildings are the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) model and the Alberta air Infiltration Model (AIM-2). Being originally developed mainly for dwellings, their applicability to large single zone buildings is evaluated in this study by comparing model predictions with field measurements in three historical stone churches that are naturally ventilated only through infiltration. The somewhat more developed AIM-2 model yielded slightly better predictions than the LBL model. However, an LBL version that allows inclusion of the Neutral Pressure Level (NPL) of the building envelope produced even better predictions and also proved less sensitive to assumptions on air leakage distribution at the building envelopes. All models yielded however significant overpredictions of the air infiltration rate. Since NPL may be difficult to attain in practice, the AIM-2 model was chosen for model modification to improve predictions. Tuning of this model by varying its original coefficients yielded however unrealistic model behaviors and the eventually suggested modification implied introducing a correction factor of 0.8. This reduced the median absolute prediction error from 25% to 11%. Thus, especially when the NPL is not at hand, this modification of the AIM-2 model may suit better for air infiltration assessment of churches and other buildings similar to the tested kind.

Studies have found a preference bias for “environmentally friendly” or “green” artifacts and buildings. For example, indoor environments are more favorably viewed when the building is labeled/certified “green”, in comparison with one that is not labeled/certified, even though the two environments are actually identical. The present study explored how physical properties of the indoor environment (high vs. low temperature) and labeling (“green” vs. “conventional”) interacts in their effect on environment perception. Participants performed a series of tasks in four indoor environments with different labels (low vs. high carbon footprint) and different temperatures (23°C vs. 28°C). Label and temperature were manipulated orthogonally. The participants’ environmental concern was also measured. The environmentally concerned participant assigned higher thermal acceptance and satisfaction scores to the environment labeled “low carbon footprint” (i.e., “green” certified) compared to the environment labeled “high carbon footprint” (i.e., not “green” certified), but only in the cooler thermal environment. Environmentally indifferent participants’ perception of the environment did not differ depending on label or room temperature. The results suggest that a “green” label positively influence the perception of the indoor environment for occupants, but only when the temperature is within the acceptable range as proposed in guidelines for “green” buildings.

Use of centre-pivot roof windows is very common in single family houses in Nordic Europe. Unfortunately the wind-driven airflow characteristics of this kind of windows are missing in the scientific literature. In the present study, the airflow rate through the window was specified by using the discharge coefficient. Wind tunnel measurements using a modelled centre-pivot roof windowwas used in the present study. For smaller sash opening angles the value of discharge coefficientwas approaching unity and the discharge coefficient decreased with increase in the sash opening angle. The value of 0.6 was only obtained when the window was without sash. Hence, the inclusion of sash improved the airflow characteristics of the window due to increased value of the dischargecoefficient. The discharge coefficient also depended on turbulence in the flow. In the absence of external wind, the turbulence was described by the value of Re. Only for higher values of Re the still-air discharge coefficients became independent of the flow direction and the air velocity. Whereas for wind driven natural ventilation the ratio of average air speed within the opening and the reference wind speed (velocity ratio) was used to define the fully developed turbulent flow. Constant values of wind-driven discharge coefficients were obtained when the average air speed within the opening was equal to or greater than the reference wind speed i.e. the velocity ratio greater than unity. Moreover, when the velocity ratio was greater than unity, the still-air discharge coefficients became identical to the wind-driven discharge coefficients.

The flow behavior of isothermal and non-isothermal wall confluent jets (WCJ) ventilation system was investigated experimentally in a mock-up office environment. Two flow regions were identified: first, a primary region is developed below the supply device, with axis along the inlet wall, and a secondary wall-jet forms along the floor. The velocity and temperature fields were recorded by traversing a hot wire and thermistor anemometers for both primary and secondary regions. The results show self-similarity characteristic of the velocity and temperature profiles for both isothermal and non-isothermal WCJ. Maximum velocity decay and its spreading rate are linear and independent of the inlet airflow rate. Minimum temperature difference and its spread also show linear decay. The spreading rates for maximum velocity are similar in both the primary and secondary regions normal to the inlet wall and floor, respectively, which is consistent with previous studies on wall jets. The variation of draught rating is evaluated via mean velocity, turbulence intensity and temperature. Although the WCJ has slow velocity decay, which enables it to cover almost the entire floor of the test room, the draught is acceptable in the occupied zone according to ISO 7730. PMV (predicted mean vote) and PPD (predicted percentage dissatisfied) are presented for the occupied zone of the room. 

The main objective of this study is to investigate the airflow patterns in single-sided ventilation of isolated buildings in which the ventilation rate can not be easily predicted by the conventional Orifice equation. The research focuses on buildings with two openings located either at the front or back external wall, with building aspect ratios of 1:1 and 1:2.The study utilizes Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with the particle tracking technique validated by velocity data obtained from a wind tunnel experiment. Ventilation performance is evaluated by Airflow Rate (AFR) and Purging Flow Rate (PFR). AFR was obtained based on the instantaneous velocity over the openings, and PFR was determined by the tracer gas method. The results show that the influence of pulsation flow and eddy penetration both exist in single-sided ventilation. The comparison of AFR and PFR indicates part of the airflow through the opening does not contribute to effectively removing the indoor contaminants, which is quantitively evaluated by ventilation efficiency (ev) defined as the ratio of PFR and AFR. In order to explicitly observe and depict the airflow, the massless particles were emitted at the opening, and the trajectories were analysed. The Probability Density Function (PDF) of indoor residence and indoor travel distance was calculated. The high probability of short indoor travel distance and the residence time, which is mainly caused by the eddy at the openings and time-variant pulsation flow, can explain the difference between AFR and PFR.

Natural ventilation is an important ventilation method due to its potential to improve indoor air quality and provide an acceptable thermal environment without energy consumption. In the urban area, the ventilation performance of the natural ventilation is very sensitive to surrounding building density. This paper presents a wind tunnel experiment to assess the influence of urban density on the ventilation rate of single-sided ventilation. Spacing density, wind direction, and the number of openings were factors that were investigated in this experiment. The ventilation rate is evaluated by a continuous dose method of the tracer gas technique. The wind pressure coefficient at openings of the sealed model without openings was measured by pressure transducers. The streamwise velocity at the street canyon was measured by a split-film probe with a constant temperature anemometer unit. The ventilation rate, wind pressure coefficient fluctuations and velocity of an isolated building are compared to those of a building with two layers of surrounding buildings with the spacing of 0.5H (H is building height), 1H and 1.5H. A higher building density decreases the ventilation performance of windward opening cases and increases the ventilation performance of the leeward opening cases. The simplified ventilation rate prediction methods for wind-induced ventilation are presented.

Natural ventilation is gaining more popularity in recent decades as a sustainable strategy to reduce energy consumption and improve indoor air quality. Due to variable turbulent characteristics, there is a lack of a practical guide that helps engineers accurately predict and maximize wind-induced ventilation rates. The current work intends to investigate the factors that influence the ventilation rates by focusing on cases that have a minor wind pressure coefficient difference. This paper presents an experimental study of single- and double-sided wind-induced ventilation mainly through two openings of a reduced scale building with three different building aspect ratios in a boundary-layer wind tunnel. A continuous dose method of tracer gas technique was used to evaluate the ventilation rate. Important factors that affect ventilation rates such as velocity in the vicinity of the wall where the opening is assumed to exist (expressed as “nearby velocity”) and surface wind pressure were measured. Flow visualization was also performed to help to understand the ventilation mechanism caused by turbulence.

The experimental results showed that building aspect ratios of 1:2 and 1:3 generally led to higher ventilation rates than that of 1:1. Linear correlation between aperture separation and ventilation rates was reconfirmed regardless of openings symmetry. We noticed that the Orifice equation works well when the wind pressure coefficient difference is higher than 0.1. There is a positive correlation between the fluctuation of wind pressure coefficient and ventilation rates. The nearby velocity of the sealed model was uncorrelated with ventilation rates in this experiment.

Reduced-scale experiments and simulations are important approaches in natural ventilation research, and the similarity requirement is fundamental for generalising the flow characteristics obtained from reduced-to full-scale conditions. However, the similarity requirement of a nonisothermal natural ventilation flow in a reduced-scale model poses additional challenges because of the reduced approaching flow, which can potentially result in Reynolds dependence issues. This study investigated the Reynolds number (Re) independence of indoor airflow in natural ventilation under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes. A wind tunnel experiment was first conducted to validate the accuracy of the CFD using a reduced-scale model. Indoor airflow fields characterised by the same Archimedes number (Ar) but with varying approaching wind velocities and temperatures were compared between the full-scale and 1/10 reduced-scale simulations. The dimensionless ventilation rate showed the least dependence on the Re number, while the temperature field was very sensitive to the Re number, especially in the near-wall region. However, the temperature field on the ventilation pathway is much less dependent on the Re number, the deviation of which is less than 10 % compared to the full-scale simulation. The temperature distribution in the reduced-scale simulation exhibits a thermal stratification pattern similar to that in the full-scale simulation.

A newly proposed intermittent air jet strategy (IAJS) provides satisfactory indoor climate while promising a substantial energy saving potential, as shown in technical (objective) measurements. The strategy creates non-uniform airflow and non-isothermal conditions critical for sedentary operations at elevated temperatures. The current study explored human perception of thermal environment under an IAJS. Assessment of thermal sensation, thermal comfort, and thermal acceptability were collected based on responses from 36 participants. Participants sat in a classroom setup and performed sedentary work. Their clothing had an insulation of 0.51 clo (T-shirt on upper body). Participants were exposed to homogeneous (v < 0.15 m/s) and nonhomogeneous (0.4 m/s < v < 0.8 m/s) velocity conditions across three temperature conditions: 22.5 °C, 25.5 °C and 28.5 °C. The participants found air speeds to be undesirable at lower temperatures, but reported an improved thermal sensation, comfort and acceptability at higher temperatures. As shown here, IAJS generated neutral operable conditions between 24.8 °C and 27.8 °C, within an air speed range of 0.4 m/s to 0.8 m/s. Additionally, air movements induced thermal alliethesia resulting in improved comfort and acceptance of the thermal climate even at lower air speeds in warm temperature conditions. Hence, the current study supports the energy saving potential with IAJS in view of the human perception of the indoor environment.

Spaces with high occupancy density e.g.; classrooms, auditoriums and restaurants, provide challenges to ventilate at a lower energy use due to elevated temperatures. To meet occupants’ thermal comfort requirements traditional systems use a lot of energy. Alternative ventilation strategies that optimize high air movements in the occupied zone allow human activities at elevated temperatures while attaining improve occupants’ perception and acceptance of the indoor climate at a low energy use. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of a novel ventilation strategy for high occupancy spaces that provides fresh air and thermal comfort in the sitting zone through a controlled intermittent air jet system. The strategy uses ceiling mounted high momentum air jet diffusers (AJD) made from ventilation duct fitted with nozzles that generate confluent jets. The jets coalesce into a single two-dimensional jet which is directed downwards in the sitting zone. This paper presents an experimental evaluation/analysis of the proposed system with regard to ventilation efficiency and thermal comfort measurements in a classroom mockup. Results show that the system qualifies to be used as a primary ventilation system and has local air change index > 1 inside the jet, and a ventilation efficiency > 50%. The system also provides better thermal climate than mixing and displacement ventilation at elevated temperatures.

The pressure field in fluid systems reflects the flow configuration. Measurements of the pressure along the perimeter of a slot ventilated room have been conducted for different room sizes. The momentum of the jet at the end of the room is decreased with increasing room length. The impingement region (region where the influence of the opposing wall is present) starts, independent of room size, when the distance from the supply device is about 70% of the room length. Corner flows could not be predicted by CFD using the linear eddy viscosity or standard stress models. However, these effects may be captured by using a second moment closure turbulence model with a new near wall approach now available in literature.

This paper focuses on evaluating the performance of a new impinging jet ventilation system and compares its performance with a wall displacement ventilation system. Experimental data for an impinging jet in a room are presented and non-dimensional expressions for the decay of maximum velocity over the floor are derived. In addition, the ventilation efficiency, local mean age of air and other characteristic parameters were experimentally and numerically obtained for a mock-up classroom ventilated with the two systems. The internal heat loads from 25 person-simulators and lighting were used in the measurements and simulations to provide a severe test for the two types of ventilation systems. In addition to a large number of experimental data CFD simulations were used to study certain parameters in more detail. The results presented here are part of a larger research programme to develop alternative and efficient systems for room ventilation.

The method of distributing the outdoor air in classrooms has a major impact on indoor air quality and thermal comfort of pupils. In a previous study, ([11] Karimipanah T, Sandberg M, Awbi HB. A comparative study of different air distribution systems in a classroom. In: Proceedings of Roomvent 2000, vol. II, Reading, UK, 2000. p. 1013-18; [13] Karimipanah T, Sandberg M, Awbi HB, Blomqvist C. Effectiveness of confluent jets ventilation system for classrooms. In: Idoor Air 2005, Beijing, China, 2005 (to be presented).) presented results for four and two types of air distribution systems tested in a purpose built classroom with simulated occupancy as well as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling. In this paper, the same experimental setup has been used to investigate the indoor environment in the classroom using confluent jet ventilation, see also ([12] Cho YJ, Awbi HB, Karimipanah T. The characteristics of wall confluent jets for ventilated enclosures. In: Proceedings of Roomvent 2004, Coimbra, Portugal, 2004.) Measurements of air speed, air temperature and tracer gas concentrations have been carried out for different thermal conditions. In addition, 56 cases of CFD simulations have been carried to provide additional information on the indoor air quality and comfort conditions throughout the classroom, such as ventilation effectiveness, air exchange effectiveness, effect of flow rate, effect of radiation, effect of supply temperature, etc., and these are compared with measured data.

The main objective of the present study was to examine the influence of culture (Sweden vs. Japan) and environmental attitude (urban vs. open-air person) on participants' thermal, emotional and perceptual assessments of a park, within the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) comfortable interval of 18-23 degrees C. It was predicted that persons sharing different cultures and environmental attitudes might psychologically differently evaluate a Swedish and a Japanese park despite similar thermal conditions. Consistent with this prediction, Japanese were shown to evaluate the weather as warmer and less good for out-door activity than did Swedes, although and according to the PET index participants in both cultures experienced similar comfortable thermal conditions. Japanese were also shown to evaluate the park as more pleasant and warmer place than did Swedes. However, the Japanese felt emotionally less pleasant at the site than did Swedes. An interaction between culture and environmental attitude indicated tentatively a difference in environmental attitude (urban vs. open-air person) between the two countries as regards the place-related wind sensitivity. All these findings are discussed in terms of culture and environmental attitude suggesting that thermal, emotional and perceptual assessments of a physical place may be intertwined with psychological and cultural processes, rather than fixed by general thermal indices developed in line with the physiological heat balance models. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The ultimate goal of this work is to establish a prediction method based on Power Balance Model for prediction of flow rate through cross-ventilated building. For the establishment of Power Balance Model, the lost power across stream tube sections must be determined in advance. However, the loss of power in the stream tube was not well studied by other researchers but this concerned critical step forms the focus of the present CFD study in which transported power in stream tubes formed at two selected models: (i) a suspended rectangular model, and (ii) a pitched roof single-storey house model standing on a flat ground surface, was documented. For the development of a new method applying to predict the lost power, decrease of the transported power across the stream tubes through both types of models will finally be shown in this paper.

Wind-induced natural ventilation through openings with small wind pressure differences was examined using large eddy simulation (LES) modelling. This study focused on cases in which the ventilation rate is predicted using a standard Orifice equation. The purpose of this study was to clarify how the ventilation rate is underestimated in such cases for both single-sided and double-sided openings, and to clarify the difference between the effective ventilation rate (purging flow rate, PFR) and bulk airflow rate (AFR), which have not been sufficiently and systematically understood. A simple cubic-room model with two openings was analysed using LES by varying the opening position after validation, and the ventilation rate, velocity field, and wind pressure coefficient were compared with experimental results. The PFR was determined by tracing particles, and the AFR was obtained based on the instantaneous velocity over the openings. The AFR predicted by the Orifice equation was underestimated when the difference in the mean wind pressure coefficient (Delta(C-p) over bar) was less than 0.1. The main feature of this study was to show the ventilation effectiveness defined by the PFR divided by AFR, which was approximately 70-80%, 60%, and 90% for the double-sided openings, single-sided openings on the lateral side, and windward and leeward sides, respectively. Another feature was to propose a method for estimating the AFR reflecting two key phenomena, namely pulsating flow and eddy penetration. In addition, a simple equation considering the standard deviation of wind pressure coefficient difference (sigma(Delta Cp)), and external local velocity around an opening (V-vic) was obtained.

Cross-ventilation is a complicated flow problem and difficult to control because wind exhibits a large degree of variation. The paper focuses on three items: a) to clarify and understand some of the basic characteristics of airflow as the influence of the opening size on the windward vortex and the leeward wake; b) to explore what information about the flow above the ground can be retrieved from pressure measurements on the ground; and c) to explore the accuracy of CFD. To meet these objectives, wind tunnel tests and CFD analyses were carried out. The studied object was a detached-house model provided with two openings. The size of these openings was changed in a wide range from narrow cracks to large openings. In the experiments, pressure measurements on the ground and PIV measurements were made. The internal flow was visualized with the sand erosion method. Pressure measurement on a floor surface is a relatively easy and an inexpensive method. In this experiment, the windward and leeward areas in particular were investigated to understand flow pattern and to confirm correspondence between flow pattern and recorded pressure on the ground. Those measurements show the difference in flow at different size openings in terms of the vortex on the windward side and the wake. When the size of the opening exceeded a certain value the near wake on the leeward side disappeared and on the windward side the vortex disappeared. The pressure distribution, flow pattern, and velocity profile are shown and compared between measurement and CFD.

The impinging jet ventilation (IJV) system has been proposed as an air distribution strategy to provide a better thermal environment with a medium supply momentum than displacement ventilation (DV) system. However, no simplified prediction method that is practically applicable has been established to date. The ultimate goal of this study is to establish a calculation model to predict the vertical temperature profile in an IJV system. The authors aim to propose a one-dimensional model, where the room is divided into several control volumes. To perform this, the turbulent thermal diffusion between control volumes needs to be well understood. Therefore, a knowledge about the effect of each design factor such as the supply air velocity on the turbulent thermal diffusivity needs to be acquired through a parametric study. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is effective for this purpose. As a first step, the accuracy of CFD simulations is verified by conducting a full-scale experiment. The velocity profiles inside the impinging jet and the indoor temperatures are measured and compared with the CFD results. It is shown that the shear-stress transport k-ω model has a sufficient accuracy to analyse the target room, and an appropriate grid layout is established as well. The convection-radiation coupling CFD prediction where the external temperature is used as a boundary condition is adopted as the best method for the numerical study in this research. Finally, a parametric study on the supply air velocity is performed based on this setting and its effect on the thermal stratification is presented. 

The importance of long-term performance and durability of building materials and components has received increasing consideration with regard to a sustainable built environment. Degradation due to exposure to environment conditions, particularly driving rain, play a significant role in the service life of porous materials used in external wall components. Microenvironment monitoring data are presented in this paper to show how different surface coatings can contribute to moisture performance of external walls made of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC). Renderings modifed with hydrophobic products on AAC substrate prove to have less wetting and better drying properties than unmodified renderings according to the performance assessment based on the amount and duration of moisture measured in the material.

Since the climate in the Nordic countries is cold for several months a year, windows are crucial in building envelopes. The current trend to reduce heat losses by building components has resulted in many modifications to window design in order to improve thermal performance and the indoor climate. Improvements in window construction have resulted in a higher surface temperature on the inner pane and considerably lower downdraught, which in turn has created an opportunity for the unconventional design of the heating and ventilation systems. The impetus for this paper is to experimentally investigate the effect of thermal performance, window bay and displacement ventilation on the downdraught. The measurements show that the use of well-insulated windows, besides lowering energy consumption, gives rise to a higher quality of indoor climate. The results show a considerably reduced velocity and turbulent intensity by employing a well-insulated window instead of a conventional one. The influence of the window bay on the downdraught is also shown in the paper. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

A recent study conducted by Blocken et al. (Numerical study on the existence of the Venturi effect in passages between perpendicular buildings. Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 2008, 134: 1021-1028) challenged the popular view of the existence of the 'Venturi effect' in building passages as the wind is exposed to an open boundary. The present research extends the work of Blocken et al. (2008a) into a more general setup with the building orientation varying from 0° to 180° using CFD simulations. Our results reveal that the passage flow is mainly determined by the combination of corner streams. It is also shown that converging passages have a higher wind-blocking effect compared to diverging passages, explained by a lower wind speed and higher drag coefficient. Fluxes on the top plane of the passage volume reverse from outflow to inflow in the cases of α = 135°, 150° and 165°. A simple mathematical expression to explain the relationship between the flux ratio and the geometric parameters has been developed to aid wind design in an urban neighborhood. In addition, a converging passage with α = 15° is recommended for urban wind design in cold and temperate climates since the passage flow changes smoothly and a relatively lower wind speed is expected compared with that where there are no buildings. While for the high-density urban area in (sub)tropical climates such as Hong Kong where there is a desire for more wind, a diverging passage with α = 150° is a better choice to promote ventilation at the pedestrian level. 

The mechanism of structure formation of non-uniform pollutant concentration distributions in indoor environments have been investigated over the past several decades to determine effective ventilation designs. In this study, numerical analyses of local pollutant concentration distributions in indoor environments are performed based on computational fluid dynamics techniques. In particular, the influence of gas phase chemical reactions and turbulent diffusion on the formation of the local pollutant concentration is parametrically analyzed, and the structures are quantitatively investigated using the index for ventilation efficiency, namely the net escape velocity (NEV) concept. The NEV concept represents the substantive velocity scale, combining advection and diffusion velocity of pollutant at a point, and functions as an index to determine the pollutant concentration at that point. Sensitivity analyses as functions of the first Damköhler number (Da) and the turbulent Schmidt number (Sct) were performed, and the influence of Sct on pollutant concentration distributions was more significant compared with that of Da. When Sct was changed from 0.5 to 1.0, the significant NEV increase, especially that in the stagnant flow region, could be attributed to the enhanced pollutant discharge efficiency due to turbulent diffusion in addition to convective flow. Thus, NEV could be used to quantitatively assess the changes in pollutant concentrations accompanying the change in Da or Sct. 

A concept of ventilation efficiency, Net Escape Velocity (NEV), developed by authors presents the net and integrated velocity of contaminant transport by convection and diffusion effect at a point within the room. The NEV is the effective ventilation rate with a velocity scale determining the contaminant concentration at a target point and can be expressed by vector and scalar quantities. It is the most important characteristic of NEV concept. An expanded concept of NEV (NEV*), under an assumption that the inflow flux of a contaminant on the control volume is a contaminant generation, was proposed. We believe that the NEV and NEV* distributions can provide helpful information for ventilation design to control contaminants. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the advantage and contribution of NEV* to current ventilation design procedure by using numerical analysis. Here, it was evaluated by the NEV* that the contaminant removal performances of local ventilation systems which are a kitchen exhaust hood in a kitchen environment, a push-pull hood in an industrial environment and an adsorptive building material in a test chamber. The distributions of the NEV* as vector quantities under the different flow and diffusion fields were analyzed to investigate contaminant leakage across the hypothetical boundaries of the control target domain of the local ventilation hood and to investigate the contaminant concentration reduction performance of the adsorptive building materials. 

The concentration of contaminant in a room is not always uniformly distributed and hence it is important to evaluate the ventilation efficiency at various points or domains in the room to optimize and reduce the ventilation rate and the air-conditioning load of the room. Various ventilation indices have been developed to evaluate the ventilation efficiency of a point or a domain based on the contaminant concentration, for example, the age of air, the Scale for Ventilation Efficiency series, Visitation Frequency and Purging Flow Rate.

This paper presents a new concept of ventilation index, Net Escape Velocity (hereafter NEV), as an index for ventilation efficiency in an indoor environment. NEV represents the effective velocity at which the contaminant is transported/diluted from a target point. The objectives of the present work are to clarify the definition and concept of NEV on the basis of CFD simulation and to investigate the calculation methods of NEV. NEV is defined by contaminant concentration, convective flux and diffusion flux at a point. Using NEV normalized by the convection velocity at a target point, we can obtain information of the turbulent diffusion effect for removal/dilution contaminant and of the direction of diffusion flux which is the same or not with convective flux. It can be said that NEV is an index of ventilation efficiency that can evaluate the ventilation performance at a point and enable understanding of the forming structure of a contaminant concentration at a point.