Air-related problems in high-rise buildings:How can we cope with the problems due to stack effect?

The construction of high-rise buildings beganseveral decades ago in North America, and nowhigh-rise buildings are common in East Asiaand the Middle East. A high rise buildingusually entails various problems in areas suchas energy consumption, IAQ, and stack effect,due to the great height of the building, most ofwhich are related to the airflow and pressure inand around the building. In particular, the stackeffect, which is driven by buoyancy forcesthrough the vertical shaft of the core, is themost critical in severe winter climates. It hasbeen reported that the stack effect in high-risebuildings causes many problems, includingelevator malfunction, energy loss through theopenings, excessive pressure differential acrossthe door, and pollutant diffusion.This article examines air-related problemsassociated with the stack effect and describeshow to cope with the stack effect. In preventingproblems caused by the stack effect, the mostimportant tier of the strategy is architecturaldesign (referred to as the passive approach),such as increasing the air tightness of all airpassages including the exterior envelope andopenings, and the separation/compartmentationof each zone. Problems caused by the stackeffect can also be mitigated by the activeapproach, i.e. controlling the amount of airsupplied and exhausted by mechanical systems,etc.