Building design assessment through coupled heat and air flow simulation: two case studies.

This paper is concerned with the application of air flow simulation in design. It describes the real world application - and the results of this with respect to building design improvement - of a building energy modelling system, ESP (RT) , which supports the analysis of coupled heat and fluid flow as encountered in a building andlor plant environment. The use of the system, and the design benefits to accrue, are demonstrated by elaborating two real world case studies. The first case study is also used to demonstrate some theoretical issues regarding coupled heat and mass flow, whereas the second case study is more concerned with practical issues. The paper gives a brief overview of the theoretical basis of the modelling approach and it's use in a building performance evaluation context. In particular, it describes the necessary level of design abstraction, the choice of which simulations to perform, the results analysis and the design implications for the two case studies.