Effect of heat loads and ambient conditions on thermal comfort for single-sided ventilation

Natural ventilation is an effective method to save energy required to condition buildings and to improve indoor air quality. Designing a naturally ventilated building is a greater challenge than designing a mechanically ventilated building because natural ventilation highly depends on weather, which changes continuously. Another factor that may alter air movement and thermal conditions in the building is the presence of heat loads and furniture. The objective of the current study is to examine the effects of various environmental conditions and room configurations on both airflow distribution and thermal conditions in a room. In this study computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to model single-sided buoyancy-driven ventilation in a room with a door. Experimental and numerical data from the literature were used to initially validate the CFD, and the results agreed fairly well. Various heat loads and furniture were added to the room to examine their effects on airflow stratification and thermal conditions. Overall, the conditions in a room were not significantly affected by additional heat sources. Lastly, cooler ambient conditions at the doorway were modeled, and the room was unable to achieve comfortable thermal conditions.