The Impact of Balconies on Wind Induced Ventilation of Single- sided Naturally Ventilated Multi-storey Apartment

ABSTRACT: The existence of a building along a path of wind flow changes the characteristic of the wind flow including its speeds and directions. The introduction of balconies further changes the characteristic of wind flow close to the building façade, thus creating more complex turbulence characteristics influencing the indoor natural air flow. This study uses Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to examine the impact of balconies on wind induced ventilation of single-sided naturally ventilated apartments in a multi-storey building. This is an early investigation for a more comprehensive study to investigate the impact of balcony on single-sided naturally ventilated high-rise apartments. The main objectives of the present study are: to investigate the impact of balconies on outdoor and indoor airflow characteristics at various apartment heights; and to investigate how configurations of balconies and openings influence the resulting airflow. This study confirms that, at normal wind incidence, the balconies significantly change the external airflow, but also suggests that this will reduce the effectiveness of wind induced ventilation for single-sided ventilated apartment. It is also observed that the configurations of balcony and opening can play an active role in inducing enhanced indoor air flow