Study on Cross-Ventilation Performance of Residences in the Passive Town Kurobe Model Based on Measurements and CFD

• Main Authors: Homma Yoju, Kurabuchi Takashi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2019-01-01
• Series: E3S Web of Conferences
• Online Access: https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2019/37/e3sconf_clima2019_06055.pdf

The housing complex in the Passive Town Kurobe model was designed for residents to enjoy an environmentally-friendly lifestyle, and cross-ventilation was used to improve indoor thermal environment in hot seasons. To understand and maximize environmental improvements through cross-ventilation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and measurements were carried out. It was confirmed that CFD simulation using the modified k-å model reproduced the observations with sufficient accuracy. The turbulence model used in the CFD simulations in this study was the standard k-å model, which incorporates the Durbin limiter. This model had the most accurate correspondence with the measured values. The wind catcher (WC) used to increase the cross-ventilation flow rate was found to be ineffective in the dominant wind direction. Further, it was found that if the room targeted for environmental improvement was on the upstream/downstream side, the flow rate was maximized if all windows in the room were opened.