Cfd simulations of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated primary school classrooms

The purpose of thermal comfort is to speck the combinations of indoor space environment and personal factors that will produce thermal environment conditions acceptable to 80% or more of the occupants within a space. Naturally ventilated indoors has a very complex air movement, which depends on numerous variables such as: outdoor interaction, intensity of infiltration, the number of openings, the thermal inertia of walls, occupant behaviors, etc. The most important mechanism for naturally ventilated indoors is the intensity of infiltration and thermal buoyancy mechanism. In this study the objective was to determine indicators of thermal comfort for children, by the CFD model based on experimental measurements with modification on turbulent and radiant heat transfer mathematical model. The case study was selected on school children of 8 and 9 years in "France Presern" primary school in Belgrade. The purpose was to evaluate the relationships between the indoor environment and the subjective responses. Also there was analysis of infiltration and stack effect based on meteorological data on site. The main parameters that were investigated are: operative temperature, radiant temperature, concentration of CO2, and air velocity. The new correction of turbulence and radiative heat transfer models has been validated by comparison with experimental data using additional statistical indicators. It was found that both turbulence model correct and the new radiative model of nontransparent media have a significant influence on CFD data set accuracy

Cfd simulations of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated primary school classrooms

The purpose of thermal comfort is to speck the combinations of indoor space environment and personal factors that will produce thermal environment conditions acceptable to 80% or more of the occupants within a space. Naturally ventilated indoors has a very complex air movement, which depends on numerous variables such as: outdoor interaction, intensity of infiltration, the number of openings, the thermal inertia of walls, occupant behaviors, etc. The most important mechanism for naturally ventilated indoors is the intensity of infiltration and thermal buoyancy mechanism. In this study the objective was to determine indicators of thermal comfort for children, by the CFD model based on experimental measurements with modification on turbulent and radiant heat transfer mathematical model. The case study was selected on school children of 8 and 9 years in "France Presern" primary school in Belgrade. The purpose was to evaluate the relationships between the indoor environment and the subjective responses. Also there was analysis of infiltration and stack effect based on meteorological data on site. The main parameters that were investigated are: operative temperature, radiant temperature, concentration of CO2, and air velocity. The new correction of turbulence and radiative heat transfer models has been validated by comparison with experimental data using additional statistical indicators. It was found that both turbulence model correct and the new radiative model of nontransparent media have a significant influence on CFD data set accuracy

Energy performance of air conditioned buildings based on short-term weather forecast

One of the possible ways to improve balance between building energy consumption and occupant thermal comfort in existing buildings is to use simulation-assisted operation of HVAC systems. Simulation-assisted operation can be formulated as a type of operation that implements knowledge of future disturbance acting on the building and that enables operating the systems in such a way to fulfill given goals, which in nature can often be contradictory. The most important future conditions on building energy consumption are weather parameters and occupant behavior and expectations of thermal environment. In order to achieve this type of operation, optimization methods must be applied. Methodology to create HVAC system operation strategies on a daily basis is presented. Methodology is based on using building energy performance simulation software EnergyPlus, available weather data, global sensitivity analysis, and custom developed software with particle swarm optimization method applied over the moving horizon. Global sensitivity analysis is used in order to reduce number of independent variables for the optimization process. The methodology is applied to office part of real combined-type building located in Niš, Serbia. Use of sensitivity analysis shows that the reduced number of independent variables for the optimization would lead to similar thermal comfort and energy consumption, with significant computer runtime reduction

EFFECTS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF CO-GENERATION IN THE DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEM OF THE FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING IN NIŠ

Implementation of co-generation of thermal and electrical energy in district heating systems often results with higher overall energy efficiency of the systems, primary energy savings and environmental benefits. Financial results depend on number of parameters, some of which are very difficult to predict. After introduction of feed-in tariffs for generation of electrical energy in Serbia, better conditions for implementation of co-generation are created, although in district heating systems barriers are still present. In this paper, possibilities and effects of implementation of natural gas fired co-generation engines are examined and presented for the boiler house that is a part of the district heating system owned and operated by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Niš. At the moment, in this boiler house only thermal energy is produced. The boilers are natural gas fired and often operate in low part load regimes. The plant is working only during the heating season. For estimation of effects of implementation of co-generation, referent values are taken from literature or are based on the results of measurements performed on site. Results are presented in the form of primary energy savings and greenhouse gasses emission reduction potentials. Financial aspects are also considered and triangle of costs is shown

Sensitivity analysis for daily building operation from the energy and thermal comfort standpoint

Improving energy performance of buildings is one of the most important tasks for reaching sustainability. Assessing building energy consumption is performed more often with specialized simulation tools. Sensitivity analysis proved to be a valuable tool for creating more reliable and realistic building energy models and better buildings. This paper briefly describes the methodology for running global sensitivity analysis and tools that can be used, and presents the results of such an analysis conducted for winter period, daily, on input variables covering a real building's operation, control and occupant related parameters that affect both thermal comfort and heating energy consumption. Two sets of inputs were created. The only difference between these sets is an addition of clothing insulation and occupant heat gain as input variables. The reference building was simulated for three distinctive winter weeks. Two additional input variables have an effect especially on thermal comfort, but they do not disturb the relative order of other influential input variables. The common influential variables for both energy consumption and thermal comfort were identified and are: air handling unit sup-ply temperature and airflow rate and control system related parameters. This can help in future research into implementing the simulation-assisted optimized operation in real buildings. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR-33051: The concept of sustainable energy supply of settlements with energy efficient buildings

CFD simulations of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated primary school classrooms

The purpose of Thermal Comfort is to specify the combinations of indoor space environment and personal factors that will produce thermal environment conditions acceptable to 80% or more of the occupants within a space. Naturally ventilated indoors has a very complex air movement, which depends on numerous variables such as: outdoor interaction, intensity of infiltration, the number of openings, the thermal inertia of walls, occupant behaviors, etc. The most important mechanism for naturally ventilated indoors is the intensity of infiltration and thermal buoyancy mechanism. In this study the objective was to determine indicators of thermal comfort for children, by the CFD model based on experimental measurements with modification on turbulent and radiant heat transfer mathematical model. The case study was selected on school children aged 8 and 9 years in primary school „France Prešern“, Belgrade. The purpose was to evaluate the relationships between the indoor environment and the subjective responses. Also there was analysis of infiltration and stack effect based on meterological data on site. The main parameters that were investigated are: operative temperature, radiant temperature, concentration of CO2 and air velocity. The new correction of turbulence and radiative heat transfer models has been validated by comparison with experimental data using additional statistical indicators. It was found that both turbulence model correct and the new radiative model of nontransparent media have a significant influence on CFD data set accuracy