At Hermann-Rietschel-Institute systematic tests of the limits for the ventilation with openable windows are under way. The parameters temperature distribution and air velocity are the most attended values. Window ventilation in office buildings has limits in application. An open window can remove cooling loads out of the room. With one window and a room with a depth of 5 m, the maximum cooling load is about 20 to 30 W/m2. These limits are determined by air velocities within thermal comfort.

This paper presents results on the human response to individually controlled radiant local heating of the body which can be used together with low enthalpy ventilation based on low room air temperature and humidity. Experiments were performed with 18 human subjects to identify the optimum combination and location of local radiant heating panels designed to compensate for cooling of the body at room air temperatures in the range 14-23 °C. The subjects were instructed to change the heating power of the panels and to select the optimum condition that would provide them with thermal comfort.

The general strategy adopted in the development of a computational tool performing the identification of parametric models based on the Residence Times Distribution (Rm) theory is exposed. Two main aspects of the modelling procedure are presented: the structural discrimination of the various solution schemes, and the parameters estimation step. The structural model determination is solved by a stochastic procedure based on a Simulated Annealing algorithm, while the parametric identification is solved by a nonlinear deterministic procedure.

The purpose of the presented investigation is the comparison between measured data of the laminar and turbulent mixed convection and their approximation by wall functions. New wall functions were implemented in a FVM-research-code using unstructured grids, which was developed by the author. Numerical results are compared with a turbulent closed cavity flow.

In order to assess ventilation systems, ventilation and thermal comfort parameters are calculated. Parameters are temperature and ventilation efficiency and PMV I PPD. Two ventilation configurations are set: the supply grille is under the ceiling and tests are performed for 2 exhaust positions. Both are opposite the ceiling: the first one is under the ceiling and the second one is on the floor. In regards with extract position, the ventilation system is better when extract is on the floor. It appears that the air renewal does not influence neither ventilation nor temperature efficiency.

Using isothermal full-scale experiments and 3-dimensional CFD simulations it is investigated how normal office furniture influences the air movements in a mixing ventilated room. Two different types of inlets are used in the experiments and a set-up with normal office furniture is made. The set-up is simulated with one of the inlets where a volume resistance represents the furniture. The jet under the ceiling is investigated and it is found that the normal office furniture does not influence the air movements in the upper part of the room.

An application of the systemic approach is presented for the study of the ventilation of a room in an industrial facility. First, a series of tracer gas experiments was made with a radioactive tracer. Analysis of the Residence Time Distribution (RTD) curves, supported by some CFD, then enabled to build a simple zonal model for the description and quantification of the observed air flow patterns. This model was able to reproduce the experimental RTDs inside the room as well as at the exhaust.

Working spaces in modem buildings are easily formed by interior partitions because these buildings have been designed and constructed as open spaces for flexibility. This could lead to an indoor environment which might be different from the intended design. In this study, the effect of partition on the indoor air quality in a model room has been investigated with different configurations such as the height of' partition and the gap between partition and floor.