Buoyancy-induced flow studies in thermally stratified loop of a double-envelope building
Abstract
There is a wide interest in the flow studies of thermally stratified loops of double-envelope houses. These loops primarily serve to hold a moderate air temperature around the inner buildings, and to reduce thermal losses and air movements into the house by diminishing infiltration. Further, if the thermal mechanism of the buildng is well designed, it may be possible to cause a solar-assisted, buoyancy-induced cycling of the flow during the day and a probable reverse cycling during the night. The benefits of this flow pattern are a possible storage of heat in the ground level of the crawl space during the day, its retrieval at night, and a better mixing of warmed air in various zones of the loop. The double-envelope section of the buildng was monitored from October 1981 to October 1982. Data collected were debugged and the monitoring system was adjusted and calibrated. Results from this experiment concerning significant local flows are analyzed. Hence, a validation of the conceptual thermal mechanism is obtained, and empirical and analytical assessments are compared.
- Publication:
-
NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N
- Pub Date:
- 1983
- Bibcode:
- 1983STIN...8330814G
- Keywords:
-
- Air Flow;
- Convective Heat Transfer;
- Fluid Flow;
- Space Heating (Buildings);
- Temperature Distribution;
- Assessments;
- Calibrating;
- Comparison;
- Data Acquisition;
- Heat Storage;
- Thermal Insulation;
- Engineering (General)