Effect of Windcatcher’s Inlet Shape on Ventilation Flow Through a Two Dimensional Room

Author(s):  
Peter Abdo ◽  
Rahil Taghipour ◽  
B. P. Huynh

Natural ventilation is the process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space by natural means. Windcatcher has been used over centuries for providing natural ventilation using wind power, it is an effective passive method to provide healthy and comfortable indoor environment by decreasing moisture content in the air and reducing pollutants concentration. The windcatcher’s function is based on the wind and on the stack effect resulting from temperature differences. Generally, it is difficult for wind to change its direction, and enter a room through usual openings, the windcatcher is designed to overcome such problems since they have vertical columns aimed at helping wind to channel down to the inside of a building. The efficiency of a windcatcher is maximized by applying special forms of opening and exit. The openings depend on the windcatcher’s location and on its cross sectional area and shape such as square, rectangular, hexagonal or circular. In this study the effect of the inlet design is investigated to achieve better air flow and increase the efficiency of windcatchers. To achieve this, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) tool is used to simulate the air flow in a two dimensional room fitted with a windcatcher based on different inlet designs such as a uniform inlet, a divergent inlet and a bulging-convergent inlet.

Author(s):  
Rahil Taghipour ◽  
Peter Abdo ◽  
B. P. Huynh

Natural ventilation is the process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space by natural means. Windcatcher has been used over centuries for providing natural ventilation using wind power, it is an effective passive method to provide healthy and comfortable indoor environment by decreasing moisture content in the air and reducing pollutants concentration. The windcatcher’s function is based on the wind and on the stack effect resulting from temperature differences. Generally, it is difficult for wind to change its direction, and enter a room through usual openings, the windcatcher is designed to overcome such problems since they have vertical columns aimed at helping wind to channel down to the inside of a building. The efficiency of a windcatcher is maximized by applying special forms of opening and exit. The openings depend on the windcatcher’s location and on its cross sectional area and shape such as square, rectangular, hexagonal or circular. In this study the effect of different wind speeds on the total air flow captured by different inlet designs is investigated. To achieve this, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) tool is used to simulate the air flow in a two dimensional room fitted with a windcatcher applying wind speeds from 1 m/s up to 14 m/s and based on different inlet designs such as a uniform inlet, a divergent inlet and a bulging-convergent inlet.


Author(s):  
Peter Abdo ◽  
Rahil Taghipour ◽  
B. P. Huynh

Abstract Windcatcher has been used over centuries for providing natural ventilation using wind power, it is an effective passive method to provide healthy and comfortable indoor environment. The windcatcher’s function is based on the wind and on the stack effect resulting from temperature differences. Generally, it is difficult for wind to change its direction, and enter a room through usual openings, the windcatcher is designed to overcome such problems since they have vertical columns to help channel wind down to the inside of a building. The efficiency of a windcatcher is maximized by applying special forms of opening and exit. The openings depend on the windcatcher’s location and on its cross sectional area and shape such as square, rectangular, hexagonal or circular. In this study the effect of the inlet design is investigated to achieve better air flow and increase the efficiency of windcatchers. To achieve this, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) tool is used to simulate the air flow in a three dimensional room fitted with a windcatcher based on the different inlet designs. The divergent inlet has captured the highest air flow with a difference of approximately 3% compared to the uniform inlet and 5% difference compared to the bulging-convergent inlet.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Reyes-Cubas ◽  
Peter Abdo

Abstract Climate change and global warming have raised many concerns, highlighting the necessity to reduce energy consumption associated with the building sector. HVAC systems account to almost 40% of the building’s energy consumption. Natural ventilation is the process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space by natural means. Windcatchers have been used over centuries for providing natural ventilation using wind power. Moreover, it is an effective passive method to provide healthy and comfortable indoor environment by decreasing moisture content in the air and reducing pollutants concentration significantly. Materials that change phase at certain temperature are frequently referred to as Phase Change Materials (PCMs). Phase Change Materials, also known as Thermal Energy Storage (TES), are substances with high latent heat storage capacity which absorb or release the heat from or to the surrounding environment. PCMs could be used in passive cooling systems and they are directly related to building energy efficiency. This study investigates air flow through a windcatcher into a two-dimensional room incorporated with phase change materials (PCMs). The temperature change in the room implementing PCM is analyzed to monitor the PCMs’ performance. To achieve this, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool is used to simulate the air flow through a two-dimensional standard room (3 m × 5 m) fitted with a windcatcher at its roof. Ansys Fluent is utilized to simulate and display the contours of temperature, liquid fraction, and velocity of both PCM and air. The energy model as well as the solidification and melting model are employed, and the K-Epsilon turbulence model is implemented. PCM is placed at the right and left walls of the room, as well as at its bottom. The inlet velocity ranges between 1 m/s and 7 m/s, simulating the average wind speeds in Sydney-Australia during summer [1]. Different inlet temperatures are used, specifically at 302 K and 310 K. The effect of the phase change material presence on the air flow pattern is also investigated.


Author(s):  
Peter Abdo ◽  
B. P. Huynh

Natural ventilation is the process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space by natural means. There are two types of natural ventilation occurring in buildings: winddriven ventilation and buoyancy driven ventilation, or stack ventilation. The most efficient design for natural ventilation in buildings should implement both types of natural ventilation. Stack ventilation which is temperature induced is driven by buoyancy making it less dependent on wind and its direction. Heat emitted causes a temperature difference between two adjoining volumes of air, the warmer air will have lower density and be more buoyant thus will rise above the cold air creating an upward air stream. Combining the winddriven and the buoyancy driven ventilation will be investigated in this study through the use of a windcatcher natural ventilation system. Stack driven air rises as it leaves the windcatcher and it is replaced with fresh air from outside as it enters through the positively pressured windward side. To achieve this, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) tool is used to simulate the air flow in a two dimensional room fitted with a windcatcher based on the winddriven ventilation alone and on the combined buoyancy and winddriven ventilation.


Author(s):  
Magdalena Nakielska ◽  
Krzysztof Pawłowski

Nowadays, people are looking for solutions related to ventilation, cooling or heat demand systems, which would be energy efficient and, at the same time, would not cause the degradation of the surrounding environment. As far as ventilation is concerned, an good solution is a natural ventilation, which improves thermal comfort rooms without increasing the consumption of electrical energy in the building. In order to improve the mode of action of the natural ventilation in the building, one can mount various elements supporting the air flow. One of them is a solar chimney. In order to check the correct operation of a gravity ventilation installation in Poland’s climatic conditions, the measurements was carried out on a test stand on the 3.1 building of UTP University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz. The received results show the intensification of the air flow through the room the value between 50% and 150%, depending on a measuring hour (Chen et al. 2003). These research results were compared with the research results received before the installation of the solar chimney on the ducts of the gravity ventilation.


Author(s):  
Peter Abdo ◽  
Rahil Taghipour ◽  
B. P. Huynh

Abstract Natural ventilation is the process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space by natural means. There are two types of natural ventilation occurring in buildings: winddriven ventilation and buoyancy driven or stack ventilation. The most efficient design for natural ventilation in buildings should implement both types of natural ventilation. Stack ventilation which is temperature induced is driven by buoyancy making it less dependent on wind and its direction. Heat emitted causes a temperature difference between two adjoining volumes of air, the warmer air will have lower density and be more buoyant thus will rise above the cold air creating an upward air stream. Combining the wind driven and the buoyancy driven ventilation will be investigated in this study through the use of a windcatcher natural ventilation system. Stack driven air rises as it leaves the windcatcher and it is replaced with fresh air from outside as it enters through the positively pressured windward side. To achieve this, CFD (computational fluid dynamics) tool is used to simulate the air flow in a three dimensional room fitted with a windcatcher based on the winddriven ventilation alone, buoyancy driven ventilation alone, and combined buoyancy and winddriven ventilation. Different wind speeds between 0 up to 2.5 m/s are applied and the total air flow rate through the windcatcher is investigated with and without temperature of 350 K applied at the windcatcher’s outlet wall. As the wind speed increased the efficiency of the solar windcatcher decreased.


Author(s):  
Masaru Sumida

An experimental investigation of pulsatile flow through a tapered U-tube was performed to study the blood flow in the aorta. The experiments were carried out in a U-tube with a curvature radius ratio of 3.5 and a 50% reduction in the cross-sectional area from the entrance to the exit of the curved section. Velocity measurements were conducted by a laser Doppler velocimetry for a Womersley number of 10, a mean Dean number of 400 and a flow rate ratio of 1. The velocity profiles for pulsatile flow in the tapered U-tube were compared with the corresponding results in a U-tube having a uniform cross-sectional area. The striking effects of the tapering on the flow are exhibited in the axial velocity profiles in the section from the latter half of the bend to the downstream tangent immediately behind the bend exit. A depression in the velocity profile appears at a smaller turn angle Ω in the case of tapering, although the magnitude of the depression relative to the cross-sectional average velocity decreases. The value of β, which indicates the uniformity in the velocity profile over the cross section, decreases with increasing Ω, whereas it rapidly increases immediately behind the bend exit.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Jan Bielawski

PurposeThe lack of integrity of the piston machine combustion chamber manifests itself in leakages of the working fluid between the piston and the cylinder liner, at valves mounted in the cylinder head and between the head and the liner. An untight combustion chamber leads to decreased power output or efficiency of the engine, while leaks of a fluid may cause damage to many components of the chamber. The actual value of working chamber leak is a desired and essential piece of information for planning operations of a given machine.Design/methodology/approachThis research paper describes causes and mechanisms of leakage from the working chamber of internal combustion engines. Besides, the paper outlines presently used methods and means of leak identification and states that their further development and improvements are needed. New methods and their applicability are presented.FindingsThe methods of leak identification have been divided into diagnostic and non-working machine leak identification methods. The need has been justified for the identification of leakage from the combustion chamber of a non-working machine and for using the leakage measure as the value of the cross-sectional area of the equivalent leak, defined as the sum of cross-section areas of all leaking paths. The analysis of possible developments of tightness assessment methods referring to the combustion chamber of a non-working machine consisted in modelling subsequent combustion chamber leaks as gas-filled tank leak, leak from another element of gas-filled tank and as a regulator of gas flow through a nozzle.Originality/valueA measurement system was built allowing the measurement of pressure drop in a tank with the connected engine combustion chamber, which indicated the usefulness of the system for leakage measurement in units as defined in applicable standards. A pneumatic sensor was built for measuring the cross-sectional area of the equivalent leak of the combustion chamber connected to the sensor where the chamber functioned as a regulator of gas flow through the sensor nozzle. It has been shown that the sensor can be calibrated by means of reference leaks implemented as nozzles of specific diameters and lengths. The schematic diagram of a system for measuring the combustion chamber leakage and a diagram of a sensor for measuring the cross-sectional area of the equivalent leak of the combustion chamber leakage are presented. The results are given of tightness tests of a small one-cylinder combustion engine conducted by means of the set up measurement system and a pre-prototype pneumatic sensor. The two solutions proved to be practically useful.


2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
D J Oldham ◽  
Jian Kang ◽  
M W Brocklesby

The pressure differences that can be used to drive a natural ventilation system are very small and thus large apertures are required to allow sufficient air to enter and leave a building to ensure good air quality or thermal comfort. Large apertures are potential acoustic weak points on a façade and may require some form of acoustic treatment such as absorbent linings, in which case the ventilator is similar to a short section of lined duct. In ducts, the performance of absorbent linings increases with the length of lining and the ratio of the length of lined perimeter to the cross sectional area of the duct. Thus, for a duct of a given cross sectional area, a lining is more effective for a duct with a high aspect ratio than for a duct with a square cross section. However, the high aspect ratio cross section will result in greater flow resistance and impede the airflow performance. In this paper numerical methods are employed to investigate the effect of different configurations of a lined aperture on the acoustical and ventilation performance of the aperture in order to establish the optimum configurations.


Author(s):  
V Oruç ◽  
M Ö Çarpınlıoğlu

In this study, flow through collapsible tubes is analysed theoretically for the case of the onset of collapse which induces self-excited oscillations. The basic tools in the theoretical calculations are the linear stability theory and the tube law. The experimental data in the form of measured oscillation frequency at the onset of collapse of an elastic tube is supplied as a base input parameter for the theoretical approximations. The calculations offer a possibility for estimating the unmeasured parameters such as critical oscillation speed, speed index, and tube cross-sectional area at the onset of collapse. It was seen by referring to the obtained results that theoretical predictions agreed with the experimental measurements.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document