CFD analysis of natural ventilation through parallel opening windows in a large educational building

Natural ventilation can be used to control the indoor thermal environment and air quality, by providing fresh air to a building and removing excessive heat and pollutants. Moreover, ventilative cooling is a sustainable option to reduce the energy demand for cooling in buildings and has gained increased attention in research, design and consultancy. This study analyzes natural ventilation flows in a large renovated educational building (Atlas) at Eindhoven University of Technology using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The CFD simulations are conducted for different wind directions, and for different door opening scenarios. The simulation results show that high-velocity regions are present behind the windows for certain wind directions. The results also indicate that the implemented open door policy for the office spaces increases the air exchange rate with up to 33% compared to the situation with closed office doors.