A two-node heat and mass transfer network model for long-term simulation of void space of high-rise apartment houses equipped with gas-fired boilers

A simplified model was developed by use of thermal-ventilation network with the purpose of studying air environment in void space at the central portion of high-rise apartment houses when gas-fired boilers were installed in the void. First, a one-node model was studied assuming uniform temperature distribution in the void space, resulting mismatching between calculated and measured values for building surface temperature. Then, a two-node model was prepared by separating corridor region from void region. The changes of values by the two-node model were confirmed to be closer to the measured values for the building surface temperature. Finally, by using the two-node model, long-term simulation study was performed for 9 years on high-rise apartment houses in suburban area of Tokyo, Japan, and the conditions to produce high CO2 concentration that relates closely to residents’ health and normal burning conditions for the boilers were extracted.