Application of CFD in prediction of indoor building thermal performance as an effective pre-design tool towards sustainability

Abstract

The application of the CFD in building industry would probably be one of the useful tools to go sustainable. Numerical moing of building with solar chimney using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technique has contributed to the prediction of indoor thermal environment, which save time, cost, energy and resources. Natural ventilation in residential is being increasingly proposed as an alternative for mechanical ventilation, which could reduce the operational cost, energy consumption and carbon-dioxide emission.The performance of the air well has been empirically proven to reduce the indoor air temperature and increase the air velocity in the passive way. In this case, CFD is applied to predict the thermal performance of room with modified air well in a measured existing single story terraced house. The comparison of indoor air temperature between the field measurement and modeling simulation was done and the result of CFD was observed to predict the functionality of modified air well shaft. The analysis shows that under highest temperature condition in 2012, which is 35°C, indoor environment with modified air well could reduce air temperature from 1 to 4°C compared to the existing condition. By incorporate CFD in architectural practice, this applicationcould be useful for the designer of building industry in Malaysia that promotes natural ventilation in passive strategy.