Experimental investigation on single-sided transient natural ventilation driven by buoyancy

Energy consumption in building sector plays a major role in hot climate for space cooling. In this view of equipment energy consumption reduction on building space cooling, top vent and window operation-based natural ventilation model is developed in reduced scale. In this study, the performance of rectangular top vent arrangement along with window opening configuration with respect to temperature distribution and air flow pattern is investigated experimentally. The results depicted that the heat generated from the indoor element with vent and window opening configuration showed a greater influence in vertical temperature difference. For both the case of window opened and closed with vent, the time taken to attain the steady-state is shorter for larger vent compared to smaller vent. Increasing the top vent area reduces the indoor air temperature at various levels. When windows in open condition, there is significant reduction in indoor air temperature upto window level for all vent areas. Air flow pattern of the in-door air is validated through smoke visualization test