CFD analysis of ventilative cooling in a generic isolated building equipped with ventilation Louvers

This study presents Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of indoor airflow in order to assess the air exchange efficiency and heat removal in a naturally ventilated generic isolated building. The building has a window on both the windward and leeward facade to allow cross-ventilation. First, isothermal steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) CFD simulations were performed to validate the numerical model using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments from literature. Subsequently, non-isothermal steady RANS CFD simulations were conducted to assess the velocity and temperature fields, the air exchange efficiency and the heat removal effectiveness. For both cases a grid-sensitivity analysis was conducted to limit the discretization errors. The CFD simulations were performed for wind direction perpendicular to the building facade with the window opening. Four different window configurations were considered; three with ventilation louvers with different slat angles (0°, 30° and 45°), and one without louvers. The results showed that the configurations with ventilation louvers with an slat angle of 30° and the configuration without louvers have the best performance with respect to ventilative cooling. This configuration had the highest air exchange efficiency (> 51%) and heat removal effectiveness (> 78%).