EVALUATION OF THE FEASIBILITY OF NATURAL VENTILATION CONCEPTS IN A SIMPLE STEADY-STATE POINT-IN-TIME CASE

Introducing a Quick Excel-Based Tool Designed to Evaluate the Success of Natural Ventilation Concepts in Buildings

ABSTRACT
Designing a building for natural ventilation entails many considerations throughout the design process. Examples of these may include quantity and dimension of openings/vents, and ventilation flow paths, which are often difficult to estimate appropriately for natural ventilation during the conceptual design stage. This paper discusses a quick excel based tool to evaluate the feasibility of natural ventilation concept in a building. It is a simplistic, steady-state, point-in-time tool to calculate pressure drop across the proposed ventilation inlet(s) and outlet(s).
The tool takes as an input the definition of the building heights and opening elements across the proposed ventilation / air flow-path. Users can also input optional parameters to define a solar chimney. The tool provides the user with a simple pass/fail test to determine whether the ventilation openings are sized and located appropriately for a successful building ventilation concept. The paper discusses the various inputs and outputs of the tool with the help of a solved example. The tool is currently limited to evaluating winter ventilation concept i.e. when indoor temperature is more than ambient temperature.

Mentors: Mohammad Hamza, Michelle Hur, Erik Olsen

final documentation >

Almaha Aldossary  – Saudi Arabia

Almaha Aldossary – Saudi Arabia

Almaha studied Interior Design Engineering (Bachelors) and did her Major in 2015 at the College of Design at University of Dammam. She volunteered at the UOD College of Design as Teaching Assistant and worked as Research Assistant on the topic “Can Environmental Tradition Play a Role in Combatting Global Warming? A Quest for Answers in the Desert Dwellings of Saudi Arabia” and “To Do Away with Air Conditioning: Comfort with Natural Ventilation in Tropical High Rise” in association with WOHA.