An experimental study on the evaluation of natural ventilation performance of a two-sided wind-catcher for various wind angles

M. Afshin, A. Sohankar, M. Dehghan Manshadi and M. Kazemi Esfeh

Renewable Energy, 2016, vol. 85, issue C, 1068-1078

Abstract: Natural ventilation performance of a two-sided wind-catcher is investigated for various wind angles (α = 0°–90°) and wind speeds by experimental wind tunnel and smoke flow visualization. A 1:50 scale model of a real wind-catcher in the city of Yazd (Iran) is employed. The pressure coefficient as well as velocity are measured by pressure taps and hot-wire anemometer, respectively. The hot-wire results are used to evaluate the induced airflow rate and turbulence intensity. Smoke flow visualization techniques are employed to study the flow structure and patterns inside and outside of the wind-catcher. The results indicate that the wind direction has a large influence on the wind-catcher performance and the induced airflow rate increases with increasing the wind speed. The hot-wire results show that the transition angles of the house window and windward opening for all wind speeds occur at the wind angles of 39° and 55°, respectively. An excellent agreement is also found for these transition angles when they are determined by measured pressure coefficients. Based on measured quantities, it is found that the wind-catcher acts as a chimney for the wind angle larger than the windward transition angle (α = 55°) and the highest ventilation rate occurs at the wind angle of 90°.

Keywords: Two-sided wind-catcher; Wind tunnel; Smoke flow visualization; Hot-wire; Wind direction; Transition angle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148115301324
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:85:y:2016:i:c:p:1068-1078

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.07.036

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().