Indoor air of a double-storey residential house in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation on the effects of using solar chimney, gable vent, and the combination of the two natural ventilations on the average air temperature and air-flow condition inside a double-storey house in Malaysia, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The representative model of the house comprises of a main hall, a kitchen and an upper hall. Both temperature and air velocity boundary conditions were prescribed on the model. Results of the simulation indicates that the average temperature of the air in the house at 1 pm closely matched the measured values. It was found that the average temperature of the air in the house is not so significantly affected by the types of natural ventilation used. Opening the kitchen door causes the air to flow from the main and upper halls towards the kitchen and causing a bottle neck at the pathways. A more uniform air flow is obtained when solar chimneys are used. When gable vents are used, high intensity air flow occurs in the main hall and it spreads uniformly towards the kitchen and upper hall. The air-flow intensity becomes even higher in the main and upper halls when a combination of solar chimney and gable vents are incorporated into the CFD model.