What is the impact of natural ventilation on indoor comfort and energy use?

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This case study simulated natural ventilation in a midrise multi-family residential building in Chicago, IL. This study used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and building energy simulations to explore the feasibility of natural ventilation in the case-study building, during shoulder seasons when natural ventilation is most appropriate. To the end, a parametric study on the energy consumption of the building was conducted to explore different natural ventilation scenarios with various environmental control set-points, compared to a mechanical ventilation system.

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The methods and the results herein could be used to assess the effectiveness of natural ventilation in a building in the design phase. Future work could systematically explore a larger variety of building types with actual energy consumption data, implement both steady-state and transient CFD simulations with multidirectional and temporal variations, explore buoyancy-driven ventilation, and invest

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Thank you so much for this opportunity!

Additional credits and other contributors:

Huge thanks to the whole Net-zero energy building design team on this project and Prof. Edoarda Corradi, Dr. Mohammad Heidarinejad, and Dr. Brent Stephens.