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

Tokyo University of science, Tokyo,, Japan

Abstract

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.