393: An air circulation comparative study between the application of short and long wind-catchers in a confined space: case of House VI of "Vila" 37

In Vila 37 – in the Catete neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro city – the houses had to grow vertically as the original project did not contemplate the space around the houses. The continuous urban transformation process, as well as the changes which took place in the houses themselves, interfered in the ventilation quality in those buildings. The project of the House VI, in Vila 37, was checked, as its ventilation was restricted to the windows in the facade. In a previous study we tested the application of a long wind-catch that crosses all the construction. The results obtained, encouraged us to test the introduction of a short wind-catch with openings only on the third-floor. This pavement indeed suffers more heating during the day because of solar radiation. Computational simulations are carried out aiming to evaluate ventilation changes. The air circulation problem was solved by using a mixed stabilized finite element method applied to the full Navier-Stokes equations. The results obtained are compared with the original situation (without wind-catch) and with the scenario tested previously. These results suggest that the wind-catch use deserves more attention and research. They show an improvement of the ventilation besides the reduction of environmental and economical costs.