Gives a brief historical review of the development of wind engineering as a discipline. Discusses the simulation of wind loads on buildings, the development of boundary layer wind tunnels and problems in modelling the natural wind. Describes modelling of the aerolastic behaviour of buildings andof stack gas diffusion. Describes instrumentation and measurement techniques. Indicates areas requiring further development.
Reports results of measurements of radon gas made in each of the Saskatoon low energy houses in December 1980. Finds that gas levels were higher in basements than on the ground floor but that concentrations of radon were not high enough to constitute a health risk. Suggests that permeability of basement walls may have a great effect on radon concentration and that sealing a basement may reduce levels.
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 a small calibrated hotbox, developed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory for studying methods of improving window performance. Describes the construction and calibration of the box. Discusses measurements of thermal conductance made with the box. Finds the hotbox is reliable with known skin losses and free of systematic errors to at least the 7% level.
The heat transfer characteristics of a window system are generally specified by three static measurements; winter U-value, shading coefficient and air infiltration. Outlines methods for measuring these three values. Describes the mobile window test facility, designed to test windows under real weather conditions. The facility consists of a portable test building which can rotate about a central point.The building contains four test rooms with a guard room on each end. Describes the instrumentation and test methods. Construction of the MoWiTT facility is planned for late 1980.
Reports measurements of air infiltration and air leakage of an unpartitioned mobile home, made in an environmental chamber. Infiltration was measured using sulphur hexafluoride as a tracer gas. Leakage was measured by depressurizing the mobile home. Discusses results and uncertainties in the air change rates. Examines dependence of air change on indoor-outdoor temperature difference. Compares results with previously published measurements and discusses anomalies.
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.