English

Reviews existing models of air infiltration. Presents the basic formulations of the Institute of Gas Technology model. Outlines the data required by the model. Reports the refinement of the model by incorporating new subroutines. Describes testing of the model using data from IGT test homes, Princeton, Ohio and Canada. Comparison between model and test data shows that the model gives estimates of the rate of air infiltration with resonable accuracy.

Reports an experiment to assess the magnitude of air flow through the brickwork of one of the ECRC test houses. Describes apparatus and method and gives results. Also describes smoke and tracer gas tests to detect air flow within the wall structure. Concludes that under average wind pressures ventilation through the wall is negligible but that air from outside may penetrate the building envelope and extract heat from the house without contributing to the ventilation. This heat loss could be as much as 50 to 100 Watts per day.

Describes further experiments from the wind tunnel simulation of wind pressures on the Aylesbury housing estate. These experiments are not concerned with the acquisition of further data, but are designed to examine the validity of measurements.< Discusses the effect of varying observation and averaging times. Reports results of experiments, varying these times, but finds no observable trends in the dispersion results.

Reports root mean square and extreme pressure measurements made on a model of the Aylesbury housing estate in the Oxford wind tunnel. Also presents a complete set of measurements on the test house alone, corresponding to the varied roof pitch records. Presents extreme value data in the form of a Fisher-Tippett type probability function.< Discusses design of the experiments, experimental procedures and results. Gives 47 tables comparing full scale with wind tunnel results. Includes results of wind tunnel measurements made at Bristol University.

Describes the first stage of an investigation designed to simulate in a wind tunnel the full scale wind pressure measurements made by the Building Research Establishment on the Aylesbury test house. Describes in detail the wind tunnel, instrumentation, measurement techniques and experimental procedures. Discusses the problems of simulating natural wind.< Discusses the results of measurements of mean pressure coefficients. Compares results with full scale measurements and results of a wind tunnel simulation made at the University of Bristol.

Describes an energy audit, developed to determine economically optimal retrofits for residential buildings, based on actual on-site measurements of key indices of the house. Measurements made are; overall energy consumption, furnace efficiency, air leakage measured by pressurization, thermostat settings and window dimensions. The data is fed to a microprocessor and a program suggests retrofits.< Describes the model for estimating heating and cooling loads on the basis of "dynamic degree days", and the algorithm for calculating air infiltration.

Describes a procedure for measuring the transmission and ventilation heat losses of unoccupied houses and their solar heat gain. Internal temperatures, ventilation rate and weather data are measured. An infrared camera is used todetect both local areas of high transmission heat loss and, together with a slight pressurization of the house, air leakage paths. Gives graphs for calculating the effective solar heating. Notes that results obtained from the tests depend very much on the skill of the people operating the equipment.

Reports heat loss measurements made in an unoccupied house at Kenmay, Scotland. Gives constructional details of this well-insulated house. Reports measurements of energy and temperatures over two heating seasons and short term measurements of ventilation by tracer gas decay method. Finds natural ventilation rate of 0.25 air changes/hour and attributes this to low windspeeds. Compares calculated value of fabric heat loss with measured value and finds good agreement. Finds type of system used, either convective or fan heating has not affected the measured heat loss.

Describes some improvements to existing windows, such as increase of thermal insulation and airtightness, easier handling of windows consisting of separate casements, repairs, maintenance and alterations to be made when old windows are replaced.< In the section dealing with thermal insulation, tests were carried out by installing a third pane in the windows in 10 houses, and by reducing ventilation between the panes in 20 houses.< Repair of some types of damage was observed in some case studies.

The traditional vapour barrier is designed to be a barrier to the diffusion of water vapour. The air-vapour barrier also prevents the natural infiltration of air. Section one of this report discusses air-vapour barriers, the management of air in a tightly sealed house, the positioning of the barrier and testing procedures and standards. Section two gives detailed descriptions and diagrams of the installation of an air-vapour barrier at all parts of a house construction. Includes 123 figures showing precise positioning and installation of the barrier.