Airflow and heat transfer in a room with a large opening

Natural ventilation is an effective method to save energy required to condition buildings and to improve indoor air quality. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software was used to model single-sided buoyancy-driven natural ventilation in a single room with a heater and door. The velocity and temperature profiles at the doorway agreed fairly well with published literature that includes an experimental [1] and numerical study [2]. The CFD models predicted the neutral level with a difference of 1.5 % compared to experimental results. Using solutions at the doorway, heat transfer rates were calculated. More realistic situations were modeled by considering conduction through walls. The heat loss through the wall was measured and the solutions at the doorway were compared to the case with an adiabatic wall condition. The effect of heat transfer coefficients and the ambient temperature on heat loss through wall, room temperature, and airflow in the room were studied.