Architectural Engineering Assistant Professor James Lo, PhD (pictured left) has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Award titled “Variability of wind effects on natural ventilation and pollutant transport in buildings,” from the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) Directorate. Architectural Engineering Associate Professor Michael Waring, PhD (pictured right) is the co-principal investigator. The total amount of the award is $303,870 over the duration of three years.
As engineers, architects, and developers direct their focus to sustainable and low cost energy expenditures, building design using natural ventilation is becoming a more common practice. While natural ventilation has been used for thousands of years in various cultures worldwide, the current method of designing modern buildings to incorporate natural ventilation is too simplistic. Designs assume steady wind flow, similar to that of more traditional mechanical ventilation practices. But due to the fact that natural wind flow is unpredictable, actual natural ventilation rates and their associated energy and indoor air quality impacts are misestimated, which has the potential to result in unintended consequences in energy consumption, human comfort, and even the overall health and wellbeing of the building occupants.
This research will quantitatively analyze the impacts of the wind-driven part of natural ventilation by varying locations, weather, and simple building geometries. Researchers will use modeling simulations, time scale measurements, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to assess/measure the wind’s variable impact on buildings. Information collected will allow engineers to properly incorporate natural ventilation into building designs, thus improving building performance, overall energy cost, and indoor air quality. More information about this award can be found here.