Natural Ventilation in Buildings

Posted on August 30, 2024

Natural Ventilation in Tall Buildings

Tall buildings in temperate climates, with proper programming of the floor plan can easily achieve effective natural ventilation in buildings with very little reliance on mechanical ventilation. Natural ventilation not only assists in maintaining air quality but can also assist in providing improved thermal comfort by means of night flushing and/or evaporative cooling.

Windtech Consultants is a pioneer in designing and modelling natural ventilation in tall buildings, having undertaken numerous such studies since the mid-1990s. On-site measurement of bulk flow rates has been undertaken to validate our wind tunnel modelling techniques. In some cases, such as a large office or communal recreational spaces, Windtech provides a more detailed understanding of the air flow distribution within the space can be obtained using high-quality Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

Senior engineers at Windtech have developed an innate understanding of where we are able to tap into regions of significant pressure differential across the external envelope of an apartment to drive natural cross ventilation through the apartment. Due to our extensive experience in collaborating with leading design firms, we have developed innovative methods of leveraging these differential pressures without impacting other building code requirements.

The key is to have an early collaboration with one of Windtech’s senior team members to avoid significant rework of the design and develop the simplest and most cost-effective outcome. If you wish to discuss natural ventilation design for your current project, feel free to reach out to your local Windtech Consultants office via the following web link: Contact us (we have 10 offices around the world and there is one near you).

Sample projects from among the hundreds where Windtech have provided advice in relation to natural ventilation in buildings.

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