Computational and Experimental Investigation for an Optimal Design of Industrial Windows to Allow Natural Ventilation during Wind-Driven Rain

Kritana Prueksakorn, Cheng-Xu Piao, Hyunchul Ha and Taehyeung Kim
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Kritana Prueksakorn: Department of Environmental Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 641-773, Korea
Cheng-Xu Piao: Ventech Corp., Changwon 641-773, Korea
Hyunchul Ha: Ventech Corp., Changwon 641-773, Korea
Taehyeung Kim: Department of Environmental Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon 641-773, Korea

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 8, 1-22

Abstract: With an increased awareness of sustainability issues, natural ventilation has become an elegant method for reducing the costs and environmental effects of the energy that is used to maintain comfortable indoor air quality rather than using mechanical ventilation. The windows in many industrial buildings are continuously open to exhaust pollutants and intake fresh air. Though windows are functional and efficient for natural ventilation, rainwater is able to penetrate through the windows during wind-driven rain. For industries in which the moisture content affects the quality of the product, the intrusion of a large amount of rainwater through windows must be prevented without compromising the effective ventilation. The aim of this research is to determine an innovative design for windows to accomplish the optimum of high ventilation and low rain penetration. For this purpose, windows are variously innovated and tested in full-scale measurements, reduced-scale wind-tunnel measurements and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). An artificial rain and wind velocity to mimic the average of the maximum values in Korea are created. The maximum reduction in rain penetration of over 98% compared to basic 90° open windows is attained with only a 4%–9% decrement of ventilation efficiency in the two recommended designs.

Keywords: CFD; natural ventilation; PIV; rain penetration; windows design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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