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Natural Ventilation
Natural ventilation, also called passive ventilation, It is the
process of supplying and removing air through an indoor space
by natural means meaning without the use of a fan or other
by natural means, meaning without the use of a fan or other
mechanical system.
It uses outdoor air flow caused by pressure differences between
the building and its surrounding to provide ventilation and space
cooling.
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Ventilation has 3 distinctly different functions
1. SUPPLY OF FRESH AIR
• Governed by type of occupancy, number and activity of the occupants and by nature of processes carried out in
the space. Natural ventilation will require a constant exchange of air.
• Provision of permanent ventilators can be built into walls or windows. Size of openable windows may be
calculated with respect to the floor area or the volume of the room.
2. CONVECTIVE COOLING
• Using convection forces to provide cooling through ventilation and difference in air temperatures outside and
inside.
• Involves the movement of air at a relatively slow rate.
• Stack effect is an example of convective cooling – achieved by strategically placed windows or ventilation
shafts.
3. PHYSIOLOGICAL COOLING
• Movement of air past the skin surface accelerates heat dissipation in 2 ways
a. Increasing convective loss
b. Accelerating evaporation.
• In areas with high humidity evaporation is restricted hence reducing the effect of cooling. However, greater
velocities of air movement can improve evaporation and induce cooling.
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Factors affecting the indoor air flow:
1. ORIENTATION
2. EXTERNAL FEATURES
3. CROSS VENTILATION
4. POSITION OF OPENINGS
5 SIZE OF OPENINGS
5.
6. CONTROL OF OPENINGS
The location of your home is a major factor in designing a
proper ventilation system, and understanding the way air
flows across it can make the difference between an effective
and ineffective ventilation system.
y
Every object on your block of land effects the way the wind moves. Every tree, bush, shrub or fence can change the
direction of the wind in either a positive or negative way.
For example, if you have a hedge on the windward side of your home, it can divert the wind away from your home.
CHANNELLING WIND
When wind blows up against a wall (or other barrier), it
creates a damming effect. The wind pressure builds up and
the flow of the wind changes direction.
To capitalise on this pressurised pooling effect, windows and
vents should be installed on this face. This will forcibly push
cooler air into your home, and warmer air out the other side.
ORIENTATION
• The orientation of your home and its windows should be
planned to maximise prevailing winds. Coastal breezes
usually come from an onshore direction.
• In mountainous or hillyy areas, cool breezes often flow down valleysy in late eveningg and earlyy morningg as night
g coolingg
creates cool air currents.
• If you're planning to build a new home but you're worried about a lack of breeze due to confinement, it's worth
considering building your house on stilts - particularly if you’re on the side of a hill.
Generally, optimum solar orientation does not coincide with optimum wind orientation. In equatorial regions, north south
orientation is preferable for solar exclusion, but the wind direction is predominantly easterly or westerly.
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When wind hits the face of the building, the flow splits and
is diverted into several streams, the orientation and number
depending on the angle of wind incidence relative to
building edges and the "flatness" of the upwind building
surface. For the simplest situation — a cube or rectangular
solid — one flow path rises over the building and two go
around it. The fourth diverts downward along the upwind
face, eventually meeting the ground and then travelling back
upstream to form a reverse eddy in the flow.
The situation becomes even more complex in
the typical urban complex where many different
shaped buildings are situated at varying
distances from each other. In areas where the
flow channel becomes narrower, the flow must
speed up as it forces its way through.
Conversely, when the channel suddenly widens,
the flow must decrease in speed. In addition,
each building influences the flow pattern created
by the building upwind of it.
Massing and orientation are important design factors to consider
for passive cooling, specifically, natural ventilation.
As a general rule, thin tall buildings will encourage natural
ventilation and utilize prevailing winds, cross ventilation, and
stack effect.
MASSING STRATEGIES FOR PASSIVE COOLING
Thinner buildings increase the ratio of surface area to volume
utilizing natural ventilation for passive cooling.
A deep floor plan will make natural ventilation difficult-especially
getting air into the core of the building and may require
mechanical ventilation.
Tall buildings also increase the effectiveness of natural ventilation,
because wind speeds are faster at greater heights. This improves
not only cross ventilation but also stack effect ventilation.
While thin and tall buildings can improve the effectiveness of natural ventilation to cool buildings, they also increase the
exposed area for heat transfer through the building envelope.
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INDIVIDUAL BUILDINGS
DOWN WASH CORNER EFFECT ROW EFFECT
Wind velocity increases around Over short and narrow buildings
corners
GROUP OF BUILDINGS
CUMULATIVE EFFECT COMBINED ROW & DOWN STAGGERED EFFECT
WASH
FUNNELLING AND CHANNELLING
WINDOW FLOW AROUND MASSING AND STEPPED FEATURES
• Courtyards need to be designed so as
to allow wind to deflect and enter
courtyard.
• All wind patterns shown here would
be influenced by surrounding
buildings and vegetation also and may
not act in the set pattern shown.
COURTYARD FLOW
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• Without outlet openings, there may be no effective air movement through a building, even in the case of strong winds.
• It is essential that windows are located on opposite walls to encourage cross ventilation.
• Air flow may lose its kinetic energy of obstructions within the building, each time it is diverted around an obstacle.
• Internal walls, furniture, etc. can effectively stop low velocity air flow. Therefore, it is better to have partitions clear of
the floor and ceiling.
• The air flow
flo depends directly
directl on the difference in pressure
press re at the openings.
openings
The main parameters influencing the air flow levels are:
• Inlet and outlet surface of the openings,
• Wind velocity and direction,
• Temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor environment,
• Relative position of the openings, and
• Relative wind shadowing of the building.
To be effective, air movement must be directed at the body surface or in the
living zone.
If the position of inlet is near the ceiling, regardless of the location of the outlet, air flow takes place at the ceiling level.
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Largest air velocity happens if the inlet is small and the outlet is large. The total force
is acting on a small area and forcing air through the opening at a high pressure.
If the inlet opening is large, air velocity will be low but the volume of air passing in
unit time will be higher.
Therefore, large inlet openings are desirable when the wind direction is not constant,
or airflow through the whole space is required.
required
To increase the cooling effectiveness of
natural ventilation techniques,
especially on sites with low outdoor air
velocity and variable wind directions,
directions it
is possible to incorporate wing walls
into the building design.
Wing walls project outward next to a window even a slight breeze against the wall creates a high pressure zone on one
side and low on the other. The pressure differential draws outdoor air in through one open window and out the adjacent
one.
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Sashes configuration may have a Changing the location of the entry An overhang or an awning increases
significant effect on the flow of air opening affects the airflow pattern in air velocity through a window below
through an opening the building them
If windows cannot be located on opposing walls, high- and low-pressure
areas can be induced with the use of casements, which efficiently controls
ventilation direction and intensity. Because the sash can be opened into an
air stream,
stream breezes that would otherwise pass by can be directed into the
room.
Operable Skylights Even without external winds, double-hung windows
can sometimes provide natural ventilation caused by stack effect of air
flow within a room. The taller the windows and the higher the ceiling, the
more pronounced is this effect.
Passive design is a design strategy that is oriented around the sun, and the way the sun moves through the sky and heats up
different types of materials.
Passive heating and cooling design takes advantage of the local climate and site conditions to maximize comfort and
health within a structure while minimizing energy use.
The key elements of passive heating and cooling design include: building location and orientation, layout, window design,
insulation ((includingg windows),) thermal mass, shading,
g and ventilation.
All of these elements work together to maximize air quality and movement, creating regulated interior temperatures year
round.
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Moreover, by using renewable sources of energy like the sun and wind to cool, heat, ventilate, and light spaces, the use of
energy-heavy mechanical systems can be reduced, and in some cases, be completely removed.
This in turn also means removing greenhouse gas emissions that would have otherwise resulted from mechanical or
electrical intervention.
• Good orientation for passive cooling keeps out unwanted sun and hot
winds while ensuring access to cooling breezes.
• In hot humid climates, orientation should aim to exclude direct sunlight
and radiant heat at all times of the year while maximising access to
cooling breezes.
• Cool breezes can come from a range of directions but near the coast are
generally onshore.
• The predominant cooling breezes in India are from the south-west in the
wet season and the north-east in the dry season.
• Breeze direction can vary within a few hundred metres due to landforms,
vegetation or other buildings.
• Many inland areas often receive no regular breezes.
• Cool air currents form as cooling night air flows down slopes and
valleys.
• In flat inland regions, thermal currents created by diurnal temperature
differences also provide useful cooling.
• These are of short duration and occur later at night or in early morning
and need to be trapped and stored.
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1. NIGHT PURGING of heat from the building to cooler night air is
critical for thermal comfort. Because breezes are often unreliable,
alternative means of purging are recommended. Among the most
effective means is a whole-of-house fan that creates breezes.
2. ONE WAY ROOF INSULATION uses low emissivity reflective
insulation to reduce daytime heat gains while allowing conduction
and convection to allow upward flow of heat at night. This is only
useful in climates with low or no heating needs.
3. RADIANT COOLING to clear night skies is also effective but
difficult to achieve. Clear night skies provide a limitless source of
radiant cooling for areas and surfaces that can be exposed to it.
Outdoor living areas and sleep-outs are the most effective but large
openings with exposure to night skies are also able to shed heat.
Design and orientation of glazing for passive solar heating requires
unobstructed sky exposure and this can be very useful for radiant
summer cooling.
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