NATURAL CONVECTION IN ROOM GEOMETRIES
Computer programs have been developed to numerically simulate natural convection in room geometries in two and three dimensions. The programs have been validated using published data from the literature, results from a full-scale experiment performed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and results from a small-scale experiment reported here. One of the computer programs has been used to study the influence of natural convection on the thermal performance of a single thermal zone in a direct-gain passive solar building. The results indicate that the building heating loads calculated by standard building energy analysis methods may be in error by as much as 50% as a result of their use of common assumptions regarding the convection processes which occur in an enclosure. It is also found that the convective heat transfer coefficients between the air and the enclosure surfaces can be substantially different from the values assumed in the standard building energy analysis methods, and can exhibit significant variations across a given surface.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Environmental Energy Technologies Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 943359
- Report Number(s):
- LBL-9297; TRN: US200902%%261
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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