Reduced-scale study of transient flows inside mechanically ventilated buildings subjected to wind and internal overpressure effects.

Abstract: To study transient mass transfers inside buildings equipped with ventilation systems, reduced-scale experiments have been performed by applying the scaling down methodology developed for studying isothermal airflows in a steady or a transient state [1]. Transient tests have been carried out both on simplified cases considered for the validation of the methodology and on two reference industrial configurations representative of real industrial facilities. In this article, focus is made on transient results obtained on simplified and reference industrial cases subjected to wind and internal overpressure effects. The main objectives are firstly to identify the internal transient airflow behaviour, compared with Helmholtz oscillated phenomena underlined from natural ventilation studies, secondly to analyse the pollutant containment of reference industrial configurations subjected to wind and/or internal overpressure effects due to an accident, and finally to check the ability of the SYLVIA code to model these transient phenomena. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]