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Ventilation of Building
Book January 2003
DOI: 10.4324/9780203476307

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H.B Awbi
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International Journal of Ventilation Volume 2 No 3

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Book Review - Ventilation of Buildings

Second Edition
Hazim Awbi
Publisher Spon Press (Taylor and Francis Group), ISBN 0-415-27056-1, 522 Pages,
Published 2003, Price39.99 Paperback, 99.00 Hardback
Review by Martin Liddament
add a new chapter on natural ventilation. Recent
developments in ventilation concepts and room air
distribution methods have also been included within
the updated chapters. An intention of this edition is to
provide the reader with information about recent
developments and, at the same time, to emphasize the
practical aspects that are needed for modern ventilation
system design. Awbi also attempts to capture recent
research in this field. This is a very comprehensive
textbook set at a level aimed at providing the reader
with a thorough technical understanding of ventilation
theory and practice. It is a book that should be equally
suitable in both practice and university.
Structure
This book is structured in nine main chapters covering:
1. Human Comfort and Ventilation

Introduction
In the preface to this book the author, Hazim Awbi,
states that, during the last three decades, ventilation
philosophy has been experiencing major changes. In
the first decade of this period, considerable efforts
were made towards understanding the mechanisms of
air infiltration in buildings in order to reduce fortuitous
ventilation and conserve energy. In some cases, the
reduction in air infiltration created problems associated
with the air quality in buildings and the generic term
'sick building syndrome' came into being. The second
decade experienced concerted efforts to understand the
causes of sick buildings, which resulted in the
introduction of new ventilation concepts, such as the
age of air, new air quality units, and a consensus for
increased outdoor air flow rates. In the third decade,
the emphasis on reducing energy consumption and
awareness of environmental concerns has focused the
minds of researchers and designers alike on the
potential of natural ventilation and user control of the
local environment. As a result of these changes, new
ventilation standards and guidelines have been written
to reflect the importance of ventilation on the quality of
the indoor environment.

In this chapter Awbi stresses that the purpose of a

ventilation system is to provide an acceptable
microclimate in the space being ventilated. In this
context, microclimate refers to thermal environment as
well as air quality. He states that increased levels of
thermal comfort have become fait accompli through
improved thermal insulation and more advanced airconditioning and heating system design. On the other
hand, a deterioration of indoor air quality has been
experienced, particularly among air-conditioned
buildings. This chapter explores these issues and
describes, in detail, the methods currently used to
define thermal and air quality comfort criteria.
2. Ventilation Requirements

Awbi stresses that, nowadays, ventilation occupies an

important position in the building design process since
building occupants expect good standards of indoor air
quality and comfort. People have become more aware
of the effect of the indoor environment on health as a
result of media publicity surrounding building related
sickness. Coupled to this, it is argued that problems
have been intensified as a result of a global reduction
in air infiltration and general ventilation rates in order
to conserve energy.
In this chapter the main indoor pollutants are identified
and the rates of outdoor air flow necessary to achieve

Advantage has been taken in the preparation of this

second edition to update almost every chapter and to

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acceptable pollutant concentrations are considered.

The effectiveness of ventilation systems in removing
indoor contaminants is reviewed with reference to the
concepts of ventilation effectiveness.
3. Air Infiltration Calculation and Measurement

Since the mid-1970s there has been an urgent need to

reduce the use of energy in the heating and cooling of
buildings worldwide. In developing countries, the
energy consumption for maintaining an acceptable
environment in buildings constitutes by far the largest
part of the total energy demand for these countries. In
the developed countries, the proportion of energy
usage in buildings is larger than that used in industrial
processes or transport. It is not surprising, therefore,
that numerous measures have been taken by
governments, groups and individuals to reduce the
usage of energy for heating and cooling buildings. This
has recently been manifested by international
agreements between countries, e.g. the Kyoto Protocol.
A major initiative, undertaken by industrial and
developing countries alike, was the reduction of heat
transmission through the building fabric by increasing
the insulation standard. As the insulation qualities of
buildings have improved, the proportion of energy lost
by air infiltration through the building fabric has
steadily increased. In some cases air change now
accounts for half the total energy requirement for the
building. It is for this reason that air infiltration has
taken on such significance.
This chapter covers three areas of air infiltration. The
first concerns the air flow characteristics of the
building fabric and building components and how the
air flow through them is calculated. The second area
deals with models that have been developed for the
calculation of air infiltration through the envelope of a
building. Finally, the third area covers the
measurement of air infiltration through the whole
building envelope. The combined knowledge
developed in this chapter is applied in the design of
passive and natural ventilation systems in Chapter 7.
4. Principles of Air Jets and Plumes

Air jets and plumes are fundamental to the mechanics

of ventilation. The flow of a jet differs from other
kinds of fluid flow because a jet is surrounded on one
or more sides by a free boundary of the same fluid.
This interaction between the flow within the jet and the
boundary has a major influence on the development of
the flow in the jet. In most mechanically ventilated
buildings, air jets are used to mix the processed air

from the plant with the room air. This type of

ventilation is usually referred to as mixing ventilation'
as opposed to 'displacement ventilation' where the
processed air displaces the room air. In mixing
ventilation, the air jet is the main distribution medium
of thermal energy, moisture and fresh air into a room.
It is therefore vitally important that the jet is effectively
mixed with the room air before the air extraction point
in the room is reached.
A further important flow, that has major influence on
room air movement, is the flow of 'plumes' which are
produced by hot or cold sources in a room. The effect
of plumes on room air movement is particularly
significant in displacement ventilation, in which case
the flow momentum is small and plumes are the
dominant forces that influence room air flow.
In this chapter the theory of air jets and plumes,
including the governing equations are presented. In
ventilation, it is very seldom that the jet is isothermal
and therefore the effect of buoyancy forces on the flow
of the jet is also discussed and, where available, data
are presented for use in air distribution design.
5. Air Diffusion Devices

The air jets used in mechanically ventilated buildings

are seldom supplied by simple nozzles or sharp
openings. Instead, carefully designed air terminal
devices (ATDs) are employed. ATDs are used in
preference to simple openings for one or more of the
following reasons:

To direct the jet to the required position by means

of vanes or baffles;
To be able to control the volume of air through the
outlet;
To vary the throw of the jet by controlling the
diffusion area of the jet.

However, ATDs have the following disadvantages:

They produce higher-pressure losses than a free

outlet;
They increase the aerodynamic noise;
They involve additional cost.

Information is presented in this chapter on the ideal

characteristics and means of specifying the
performance of ATDs. This includes the methods used
by manufacturers to classify their products to assist the
designer in the selection of supply and extract devices.
6. Design of Room Air Distribution Systems

The thermal condition in the occupied zone is

determined by the combined effect of the air

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temperature, mean radiant temperature, air velocity and

turbulence intensity as well as relative humidity. To
assess thermal comfort, all these variables need to be
evaluated individually throughout the occupied zone
and then used in a thermal comfort equation.
The evaluation of these comfort parameters in a room
is the main theme of this chapter. Accurate prediction
of room thermal environment is not only necessary for
providing thermally acceptable conditions for the
occupants, but is also required to optimise the energy
utilisation in each zone of the building and the sizing
of the heating or air-conditioning plant.

using CFD, is the type of turbulence model used. It is

shown, in this chapter, that there are a range of
turbulence models to choose from with varying
complexity and accuracy. Here, again, most of the
CFD codes in use for room flow analysis tend to use
the standard k- model or its many variants and this
model is therefore considered in more detail than the
other models that are available. In addition to
presenting the fundamental flow equations and the
modelling of turbulence, examples are presented
showing the range of applications of CFD models for
solving ventilation problems of practical interest.
9. Measurement of Indoor Climate

7. Natural, Hybrid and Low Energy Ventilation

Natural ventilation is the term used to describe the air

flow to or from a building through specific openings in
the building envelope, such as openable windows,
ventilators, ventilation shafts, etc. As in the case of air
infiltration, the resulting ventilation process is caused
by naturally produced pressures due to wind and stack
effects. Since these pressures are derived from the
(random) climatic conditions surrounding the building,
a naturally ventilated building requires provisions for
the continuous control of air flow. In this chapter, the
principles and methodologies used for calculating air
flow through ventilation openings due to wind and
buoyancy forces, and also the methods used for
combining natural ventilation with mechanical
ventilation (mixed mode or hybrid ventilation) are
considered.
8. Computational Fluid Dynamics in Room Air Flow
Analysis

Over the last two decades there has been great interest
in developing computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
computer programs for predicting air flow patterns in
ventilated rooms. The majority of these CFD programs
are based upon the solution of Navier-Stokes
equations, the energy equation, the mass and
concentration equations as well as the transport
equations for turbulent velocity and its scale. The
numerical solution of these equations in two- and
three-dimensions has been applied to flow problems
ranging from the diffusion of jets to the prediction of
smoke and fire spread in buildings.
In practice, there are two main numerical techniques
that are in use for solving the Navier-Stokes equations:
the finite volume method (FVM) and the finite element
method (FEM). However, most current CFD codes for
room air flow analysis use the former. Consequently,
this chapter describes this method of solving the flow
equations in some detail. Another important issue, in

It is evident, from the previous chapters, that the way

buildings are ventilated determines the levels of
thermal and air quality as well as the energy
requirement to achieve them. To quantify these levels
requires the measurement of many physical parameters
either in physical models of the ventilation system and
building module or on site, during commissioning and
post-commissioning, to ensure that the design targets
are achieved. The evaluation of thermal quality, air
quality and energy consumption depends on the
measurement of parameters such as temperature,
vapour pressure, air velocity, air flow rate, thermal
comfort, air contamination and the visualisation of the
air flow in the space being ventilated.
In this chapter, devices that are often used in indoor
climate measurements are described and, where
possible, their range and accuracy are given. Some of
the devices described are standard instruments, used
for general scientific and engineering measurements,
whereas others are specific to the measurement of the
physical parameters of the indoor climate. The devices
featured here cover measurements within the ventilated
space as well as within the system itself. It is well
known that all measurements lead to certain errors
associated with uncertainties in instrument calibration,
environmental factors, the use of constants and factors
in the measurement, uncertainties in the manufacture
and use of the instrument, user-related errors in
installing the instrument, data recording and analysis,
etc. The issue of errors is therefore also considered.
Finally, this book includes a series of appendices that
provide information on the sources of various
computational codes.
In summary, this book includes a substantial number of
examples, data tables and figures, thus making it a
complete text for anyone who really needs to
understand ventilation.

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