The tendency to impose stricter building regulations in order to further decrease energy consumption contradicts the tendency to build more transparent architecture and apply thinner façade construction elements. This contradiction can be seen as one of the driving forces of all research efforts that focus on developing translucent façade elements with high insulating values. 

Previous simulations predict the possibility of reducing cooling demands in office buildings in hot arid areas if a selective double skin facade is used. The reductions on cooling loads in rooms range between 19%-40% depending on the glazing thermal and visual performance characteristics of the exterior glazing of the double skin façade. However considerable uncertainty exists about the air flow rates and temperatures experienced within the channels of these facades.

This paper is about the application of a local (radiant) bench heating system in a church. This local heating system could be a nice alternative to heating the large air volume of the building, because it radiates the heat to the people directly without influencing the overall indoor climate of the church. This would save energy costs and reduce the risk of damaging the monumental building and its interior, but it would still provide human thermal comfort.

In the world-wide scale outbreak of SARS in 2003, cluster of cases occurred in large building blocks, especially in Hong Kong. In this paper, we will examine one of the most likely virus-spread mechanisms, which is related to the inter-flat or inter-zonal air flow through open windows caused by buoyancy effects. Both tracer gas technique and CFD(computational fluid dynamics) techniques are employed to quantify the amount of the exhaust air coming out of the upper part of the window of a floor that re-enters the lower part of the open window at the immediate upper floor.

There is a strong demand for accurate moisture modelling since moisture poses a risk for both the constructions and the indoor climate. Thus, in this investigation there is special focus on moisture modelling. The paper describes a new model based on a CFD tool that is enhanced to include both detailed modelling of airflows in rooms and heat and moisture transfer in walls by applying them as fluid walls. In a 3D configuration the impact of different boundary conditions are investigated and the results are discussed.

This paper studies in three-dimension the coupled convective and radiative heat transfer rate from a window surface with adjacent aluminium venetian blind using commercially available CFD software. The flow patterns (temperature and velocity fields) and convective heat transfer coefficient were investigated for different blade angles (00, 450, -450, 800) for both summer and winter conditions. Comparisons were made with available experimental and other theoretical research. The results of this paper indicate that heat transfer between window and indoor air is influenced significantly by the

This paper presents CFD simulations of natural displacement ventilation airflows in which the buoyancy force produced by a heat source is opposed by a wind force. Cases investigated focus on wind buoyancy force relationships for which a two-layer stratification is maintained. CFD predictions of the position of the interface separating the two layers and the change in reduced gravity (temperature difference) between them are compared with the analytical work and salt-bath measurements of Hunt and Linden (2000, 2005).

CFD calculations on night cooling by natural ventilation have been carried out for two different opening geometries: 1) a set of panels and 2) a 'parallel window'. Ventilation rates for these geometries have also been measured in a research facility. A considerable amount of scatter is found in the measurements, due to limitations of the experimental set-up.

Past research of predictive optimal control of active and passive building thermal storage inventory has confirmed the importance of accuracy in the employed building model. In a subsequent investigation of modelfree learning control for the same application, a hybrid modelbased/ modelfree control scheme based on simulated reinforcement learning has been proposed.

This paper reports on the measured performance of a residential solar water heater system over a period of 22 years and the modeling of the system to simulate its degradation over that period. The system consists of three fixed flat-plate collectors with a total of 5 m2 of double-layer glass cover plates and black aluminum fin-tube absorber plates. The solar storage tank capacity is 303 liters, which is used as a preheater to a 114-liter conventional electric water heater.