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Computer Simulation of Cooling Effect of Wind Tower on Passively Ventilated Building
Abstract
Traditional buildings are cooled and ventilated
by mechanically induced drafts. Natural ventilation
aspires to cool and ventilate a building by natural
means, such as cross ventilation or wind towers,
without mechanical equipment. A simple
computer program was developed to simulate
airflow through a wind tower based on tower
dimensions and air temperature. The program was
compared to experimental results with reasonable
agreement. Parametric analysis indicates that
interior air temperature approaches outdoor air
temperature asymptotically as tower height and
cross-sectional area are increased, and that it may
be more cost effective to increase the tower?s
height than its cross sectional area. The program
was then used to simulate hour-by-hour indoor air
temperatures of an occupied auditorium in Dayton,
OH. The results indicate that a large wind tower
was able to keep the temperature of an occupied
auditorium at a comfortable level year round.
Citation
Seryak, J.; Kissock, J. K. (2002). Computer Simulation of Cooling Effect of Wind Tower on Passively Ventilated Building. Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu); Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /5177.