Passive downdraught evaporative cooling. II Airflow modelling.

Describes a three-year EU funded research project into the application of passive downdraught evaporative cooling (PDEC) to non-domestic buildings. This paper specifically discusses the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model PDEC. Using a hypothetical office building in Seville, Spain, it describes modelling techniques used and applications in an investigation of the building's performance. Concludes that CFD is very valuable for analysing ventilation performance in PDEC buildings, that wind effects and aperture sizes must be carefully assessed for good air flows, and that a top-down ventilation strategy will perform as well in upflowing mode (for example in night ventilation).