Reducing the Cooling Energy Demand by Optimizing the Airflow Distribution in a Ventilated Roof: Numerical Study for an Existing Residential Building and Applicability Map

This work presents a study of a ventilated hollow core slab system (VHCS) that obviates the need to completely replace the slab of an existing residential building. It is assimilated to a heat exchanger to allow its effectiveness to be studied as a function of the area and airflow rate. The balance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied sciences 2024-08, Vol.14 (15), p.6596
Main Authors: Rincón-Casado, Alejandro, Rodríguez Jara, Enrique Ángel, Ruiz Pardo, Alvaro, Salmerón Lissén, José Manuel, Sánchez de la Flor, Francisco José
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Boundary conditions
building retrofitting
Buildings
Cooling
Efficiency
Energy consumption
Energy use
Heat exchangers
Heat transfer
Housing development
Hydraulics
Optimization techniques
Temperature
thermal efficiency
thermo-hydraulic performance factor
ventilated hollow core slab systems
ventilated roof
Ventilation
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Summary:This work presents a study of a ventilated hollow core slab system (VHCS) that obviates the need to completely replace the slab of an existing residential building. It is assimilated to a heat exchanger to allow its effectiveness to be studied as a function of the area and airflow rate. The balance between the energy consumed by the fan and the heat evacuated by the system is also studied through the use of the thermo-hydraulic performance factor (THPF), for which a series of cases were simulated by CFD following a methodology in which a configuration is achieved by means of the sequential analysis of cases in which both the thermal effectiveness and the THPF are maximized. The configuration chosen in this study was found to benefit from high airflow rates since, although this implies an increase in fan energy consumption, the increase in heat removed is proportionally greater. It has also been found that the design of the airflow distribution through the slab is of high importance as it affects both the heat exchanged with the slab and the pressure losses. An applicability map has been developed as a function of the temperature of the space below and the air temperature at the inlet of the ventilated roof. The heat flux per unit area that the studied envelope is able to evacuate is about 20 W/m2 K.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app14156596