Building Ventilation Performance
Ventilation in buildings is important as it provides occupants with a thermally comfortable and healthy environment.
Airflow within spaces can be driven by complex flow mechanisms that relate to leakage within the building envelope, temperature differentials between spaces, and wind pressure distributions along façade walls and ventilation supplies/extracts. Air can be encouraged to move through spaces, or discouraged in the case of toxic pollutants, by using these complex mechanisms to one’s advantage.
Our Approach
Novasim has proven capability in investigating all aspects of ventilation performance. Whether a building development is early in the design stage or has already completed construction, Novasim works closely with the design team to develop innovative, cost-effective and sustainable solutions to any building ventilation issues.
Our team of specialists conducts computational flow simulations to analyse the movement of air and assess flow rate and temperature within a space relevant to supply/extract locations. These analyses are used to fine-tune air distribution systems (both natural and mechanical) and examine specific design issues such as downdraughts, stack effect, and condensation risk.
In addition, by devising the most effective ventilation strategies, our approach also helps reduce the energy consumption of ventilation systems by eliminating over-design.
Key consultancy services
- Thermal comfort optimization
- Impact of solar radiation
- Prediction of room conditions: air velocity, temperature, humidity, thermal radiation
- Testing the effectiveness of novel ventilation and room conditioning system designs
- Naturally ventilated schemes and Energy efficiency concepts analysis
- Local condensation risk analysis
- Indoor air quality: age of air, air change effectiveness, carbon dioxide concentration, toxins etc
- Car park or Tunnel ventilation assessment
