The main purpose of buildings is to provide a comfortable living environment for their occupants. This includes, among others, thermal, visual and acoustic comfort as well as indoor air quality. Except during the fifties and sixties, it has always been considered important that an excess use of energy should be avoided in the construction and the management of a building, sometimes even at the cost of user comfort. Energy saving is however not the main purpose of the building.

The buoyant plume characteristics of heat sources and their relation to geometric factors are of fundamental importance to the effectiveness of the displacement ventilation. The interactions in buoyant plumes from an array of horizontal line heat sources are investigated systematically with Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Based on the discussion about convective flow patterns of a single lime heat source, the characteristic velocity and temperature to character the accumulating buoyancy effects of an array of horizontal line heat sources are proposed.

This paper presents results belonging to a larger investigation on low velocity indoor air jets. The experiment is undertaken in a climate room where an isothermal air jet is issued from the centre of one lateral wall. Measurements are performed with a single fiber film probe, and with Particle Streak Velocimetry system. With Particle, Streak Velocimetry has been developed a three dimensional analysis of the instantaneous velocity field. With the use of fiber filmprobe, the fluid-dynamics of the jet flow is explored in terms of mean longitudinal velocity, and relative turbulence intensity.

Recommendations for the characteristics of anemometers that will ensure accurate velocity measurements are specified in the present standards. Recent research shows, however, that the requirements in the standards are based on incorrect assumptions and are insufficient to perform draught discomfort assessment that meets the accuracy requirements for human comfort specified in the indoor climate standards.

This study utilizes the two-chamber model to simulate naturally ventilated airflow through a window opening in a common- type bedroom in Taiwan. Standard kepsilon turbulence model is implemented to account for such a natural convection flow pattern. The driving force in this space is mainly the heat flux generated by occupant's skin. The result shows that under normal operation indoor, carbon dioxide ( indicator air contaminant for IAQ ) is less than 1000 ppm, ASHRAE Standard recommended.

We present a series of analogue laboratory experiments of the transient exchange flow between a room filled with warm air and a cold exterior following the opening of a doorway. Our experiments suggest that the time-scale for mixing the fluid in the room below the top of the doorway is independent of the door height. We then describe the steady-state two-layer stratification that is established when, in addition to the exchange flow, a localised heat source provides heat at the base of the room.

Studies of airflow between two adjacent spaces of building were carried out using CFD simulation. The results of CFD simulation were validated against test data set obtained from full-scale experimental tests. The agreement and discrepancy between the prediction and measurement results were discussed. Further numerical exercises were carried out to study under the conditions that were difficult to achieve by experiments and the results obtained were supplemented to the understanding of convective heat transfer between adjacent rooms.