Study of the Airflow Structure in Cross-Ventilated Rooms based on a Full-Scale Model Experiment

AbstractCross ventilation to reduce cooling energy is one of the most important techniques for maintaining a comfortable indoor environment in hot and mild seasons. However, at present, it is difficult to design the indoor environment under cross ventilation because there is insufficient knowledge to evaluate the effect of cross ventilation quantitatively. To develop an understanding of the flow characteristics a full-scale model experiment was performed in a large wind tunnel to examine airflow properties in a cross-ventilated space. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the airflow structure in the cross-ventilated room in relation to wind direction.The key factors determining the airflow structure in the space were found to be: the main current region, rebounding and changing flow direction, deflected flow, surface flow and circulating flow. It was observed that the main air current tends to travel in a straight line until it collides with obstacles. On collision, the flow changes direction and defle...