Modelling natural convection in a heated vertical channel for room ventilation

Solar-air collectors installed on the south-facing walls of school buildings have been tried out in Portugal as a passive means of improving indoor air quality without prejudice to thermal comfort requirements. A numerical investigation of the behaviour of these systems, typified as vertical channels opened at both ends, is presented for typical geometries and outdoor conditions. The study is carried out with natural convection and assumes that the induced flow is turbulent and two-dimensional. The fully averaged equations of motion and energy, added to a two-equation turbulence model, are discretized and solved following the concepts of TEF (Transfer Evolution Formalism) using a finite volume method. Flow and temperature fields are produced and results presented in terms of temperature and velocity distributions at the exit section of the duct. These enable a better understanding of the developing flow and can be helpful in the design phase of this type of system.