Simulating Air Flow, with a Zonal Model, for Natural Convection in a Partitioned Dwelling

Convective heat and mass transfer through large internal openings play an important role in the aero-thermal behaviour of buildings. These phenomena become even more dominant in the case of naturally ventilated buildings. The three-dimensional zonal model of coupled heat transfer and air flow calculations ZAER (Zonal AERial model) has been extended to enable predictions of variations in temperature distributions and airflows between and within rooms subjected to natural convection. This new model has been validated by comparison with experimental measurements and with results from the zonal model of Wurtz and a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tool. A sensitivity analysis with respect to physical parameters is also presented. The results indicate that this simulation model is an effective tool for predicting airflow and temperature distribution within a partitioned dwelling in the case of natural convection.