Effects of vertical shaft venting on smoke movement in tall buildings are examined in order to obtain conditions for minimum smoke filtration into upper floors, stairways, and elevator shafts during fires. Results show that sufficient bottom venting will nearly eliminate flow of air into shafts, while top venting reduces flow from shafts. Either should reduce smoke transfer between levels. Multiple shaft buildings benefit from top ventingsome and bottom venting others, reducing necessary vent size for sufficient ventilation.

A computer analysis of stack effects in a large multi- storey building was performed, comparing the air flow (and consequent hypothetical smoke concentrations at higher floors) with and without a smoke shaft. Additionally, tests were performed on one building using one of two stairwells as a smoke shaft. Results indicate that a smoke shaft can be effective in limiting smoke movement to upper stories, as long as the fire floor is not open to outside air (such as by a broken window), or the smoke shaft is not open to a floor higher than the fire floor.

This paper describes a set of velocity measurements which were made within a series of models of rectangular enclosures whose dimensions in plan were varied, the heights of the walls being held constant. The airflow's speed was measured at each of the points of a rectangular grid and the arithmetic mean of these measurements was adopted as a measure of the enclosure's performance in providing shelter from the wind, and was used to compare the effectiveness of one geometry against another. It was found that the degree of shelter could be optimised by a correct choice of geometry.

The appearance of bubbles used for flow visualisation around bluff bodies in a wind tunnel is illustrated. It is demonstrated that the large diameter and low density properties of bubbles could enable them to represent raindrops in a wind tunnel.

Substantial work on ventilation effectiveness has been carried out in Norway and Sweden using tracer gas techniques based on fundamental physical and mathematical concepts. The nature of, and how to characterize by using tracer gas techniques, the flow of ventilation air and contaminants through a ventilated room is known. Displacement flow has been proved to be the best flow principle for ventilation, and in general ventilation air should be supplied to the occupied zone.

For proper control of the ventilation in a building, it is necessary to know the factors involved. These include (1) the climate, including temperature, wind direction, and wind velocity, (2) the building performance, (the interconnections b

This article examines a solution procedure which can determine the flow in an air-conditioned room. The method is based on the solution of a group of equations for the flow (four non-linear partial differential equations) by means of a numerical method. Comparison with test results indicates that the method studied is suitable for prediction of air movement in an air-conditioned room when the flow is steady and two-dimensional. The method can be extended to give the required information for the evaluation of thermal comfort in the room.

In energy balance of buildings the ventilation losses are a big part, and this part is getting relatively bigger the better the enclosure of the building is insulated. All ventilation that is larger than what is wanted for hygiene and comfort can be regarded as undesired and thus be considered as heat loss. For energy conservation it is therefore essential that ventilation rate can be controlled. This report discusses the current research in Sweden dealing with air infiltration.

This report contains a brief description of an air infiltration measuring device jointly developed by the National Bureau of Standards and Princeton University's Center for Environmental Studies. The device maintains a constant concentration of a tracer gas (SF6) in each room of a structure by injection, and relates the infiltration rate for each room to the rate of gas injected. Specifics of construction and use are included.

This paper presents an account, and results, from the U.S. Gas Industry's on-going program to assess the effectiveness of various retrofit actions toincrease the seasonal efficiency of central, gas-fired, space heating, residential furnace