Solar Energy Vol. 70, No. 3, pp.

237–244, 2001
 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd
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AIRFLOW IN COURTYARD AND ATRIUM BUILDINGS IN THE URBAN

ENVIRONMENT: A WIND TUNNEL STUDY
S. SHARPLES* , † and R. BENSALEM**
*Centre of the Built Environment, School of Environment and Development, Sheffield Hallam University,
Unit 9, Science Park, Howard Street, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK
**School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

Abstract—A wind tunnel study was carried out to investigate the airflow through courtyard and atrium
building models located within an urban setting and exposed to an urban atmospheric boundary layer.
Ventilation strategies resulting from the use of different courtyard and atrium pressure regimes (positive
pressure and suction) were examined. The model buildings were monitored both in isolation and in idealised
urban environments of varying group layout densities. The effect of wind direction was also observed. The
results from the study suggest that the open courtyard in an urban environment had a poor ventilation
performance whilst an atrium roof with many openings operating under a negative (suction) pressure regime
was the most effective. Changing the wind direction from perpendicular to the building façades to a 458
incidence angle had the effect of making the differences in the observed flows between all the models much
smaller.  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. INTRODUCTION tion and reducing energy consumption is the

atrium. The atrium form was originally used in
A key feature of urban sustainability is the design
ancient Greece and Rome, where it was an
and use of energy efficient buildings within the
uncovered internal roof opening to allow daylight
urban context. Many urban buildings are large,
in and smoke from fires out. This uncovered form
non-domestic structures used for office, commer-
was extended in traditional Arab architecture to
cial and industrial purposes. Such buildings have
create a larger courtyard space. Courtyard spaces
frequently used mechanical ventilation and / or air
were covered with glass in wrought iron frames
conditioning systems to create their internal en-
during the 19 th century when these materials
vironments, and the use of such systems has
became widely available as a result of the In-
increased dramatically throughout Europe during
dustrial Revolution. The modern origins of the
the last decade (Santamouris and Asimakopolous,
atrium can be traced back to the construction of
1996). Apart from the global consequences of
the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta in 1967
energy-intensive, highly serviced buildings there
(Saxon, 1994). The atrium building has proved so
has also been concern related to the health of the
popular that most large commercial buildings
occupants of such buildings (Turner and Binnie,
completed during the last 25 years contain some
1990). In response to these issues there has been a
form of atrium, often as a central core circulation
revival of interest in the use of natural ventilation
space. Although this has other environmental
for non-domestic buildings to provide an internal
implications, such as for solar gain, daylight and
environment with satisfactory thermal comfort
thermal comfort, this study has focussed on the
and good indoor air quality. This revival has
ventilation and airflow performance of the atrium.
incorporated both major research projects (Limam
The atrium building utilises both stack and
et al., 1997; Kukadia, 1998) and the production of
wind forces to generate air flows through the
design guidance and design tools (CIBSE, 1997;
room spaces adjoining the atrium well. In summer
Allard, 1998) to help engineers and architects
the stack force can be dominant and the atrium
integrate natural ventilation solutions into their
well acts as a chimney to vent warm air out of
buildings.
rooftop openings. For other times of the year wind
One building type that has been thought to
forces may create pressure gradients between the
offer great potential for utilising natural ventila-
outer façades of the buildings and the inner
façades facing the atrium well. A complex mix of
parameters will determine the magnitude and
†
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: direction of the wind-induced internal airflow.
144-0114-225-4794; fax: 144-0114-225-3206; e-mail: These include the magnitude and distribution of
s.sharples@shu.ac.uk the pressure coefficients around and inside the

237
238 S. Sharples and R. Bensalem
atrium building, the leakage characteristics of the
façades and the shape of the roof over the atrium
well. Another key factor is the sheltering effect of
surrounding buildings in the urban environment.
Recent work by Santamouris et al. (1998) on
airflow in urban canyons has indicated how great
the drop in natural ventilation potential can be
within urban areas. For atrium buildings sited
within a congested urban area the sheltering effect
may be so great that wind-induced pressures on
the building’s external walls may be very small.
Under these circumstances the atrium roof can be
the key element for generating sufficiently strong
positive or negative pressure gradients to induce
satisfactory natural ventilation flows.
The use of roof elements to enhance the
ventilation of buildings in built-up areas is not
new. Wind towers and wind catchers have been
prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa for
hundreds of years, and have formed a key com-
ponent of the indigenous architecture of those
regions. Fig. 1 shows a wind tower from Iran [9].
Vents incorporated into the roof ridge and eaves
provide a more integrated solution in modern
buildings. Bauman et al. (1988) used a wind
tunnel to investigate a ‘jack roof’ configuration
Fig. 1. Wind towers of Yazd, Iran (from Gallo, 1995).
for densely packed housing in hot humid climates,
with vents placed in the sides of an elevated roof
ridge. The jack roof was found to be effective in
inducing internal air movement. A study by
Riskowski et al. (1998) of the airflow perform-
ance of a number of commercial and fabricated
ridge vents provided quantitative data for a range
of wind speeds and directions. The shape of the
roof can also have a major role in inducing
internal air movement. Kindangen et al. (1997)
performed a CFD analysis of ten roof configura-
tions to study their impact on airflow velocities
and distributions. For the isolated, cross-ventilated
dwelling modelled the shape of the roof did have
an effect on the airflow patterns, and, in par-
ticular, air velocities. Wind direction, roof over-
hangs and roof heights were also important in-
fluences on airflow.
Some assessments of airflow in courtyard and
atrium buildings have been carried out, mainly as
either wind tunnel or computer simulations. Walk-
er et al. (1993) and Shao et al. (1993) performed
CFD and wind tunnel studies of courtyards. Their
work suggested that courtyards could provide
adequate ventilation, but that local sheltering
effects in urban areas might create serious prob-
 Airflow in courtyard and atrium buildings in the urban environment: a wind tunnel study 239

lems. Alvarez et al. (1998) modelled airflow
patterns in courtyards as a function of their depth
to width ratios. Andersen (1995) provided a set of
formulae for estimating atrium ventilation param-
eters such as air velocity, temperatures and venti-
lation capacities in terms of openings, heat loads
and building geometries. Guidelines for CFD
modelling of atria have been suggested by Schild
et al. (1995). Schaelin et al. (1996) compared
several airflow models of varying complexity with
measured temperature and velocity data from an
8000 m 3 volume atrium, and obtained satisfactory
agreement.
Many of the above studies have tended to
investigate either isolated building models or have
been trying to apply the results to a particular
actual full-scale building. Little work has been
done on a parametric analysis of the interactions
between several factors, such as roof shape,
atrium ventilation mode, wind direction and sur-
rounding buildings. Such a parametric analysis
would help identify the best combination of
design parameters to maximise the benefits of
wind-driven natural ventilation in atrium build-
ings in urban areas. The experimental details of
just such a parametric study are given in this
paper.
2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
In order to evaluate the wind-driven natural
ventilation in courtyards and atria in an urban
setting a range of model buildings were con-
structed, instrumented and tested in a boundary
layer wind tunnel.
2.1. Building models
The models represented four storey courtyard
and atrium buildings at a scale of 1:100. They
measured 339 3 339 externally 3 130 mm high.
The central courtyard / atrium was square in plan
with the sides being equal to the height of the
building (i.e. 130 3 130 3 130 mm). The model
walls representing room depth were 104 mm
deep. Monopitch roofs were placed over the
courtyard opening to produce a range of ventila-
tion strategies. Each roof was 52 mm high, giving
a roof pitch of just under 228. The models were
constructed from Perspex and consisted of rectan-
gular building block modules that could be fixed
together to create a range of model types. The
models’ walls and roofs were perforated with
10 mm diameter holes to simulate building leaki-
ness. The porosity of the walls (hole area to total
façade area) was 11.4%. Table 1 gives details of
the various courtyard and atrium roof ventilation
strategies investigated in the study, while Fig. 2
shows schematically the types of flow produced
by these strategies.
Airflow rates through the models were mea-
sured directly with an orifice plate incorporated
into one of the Perspex building block modules.
This device was a square edged plate of 17 mm
diameter inserted between two short brass pipes
of 25 mm diameter, fitted with two corner pres-
sure tappings. The pressure drop across the tap-

Table 1. Courtyard and atrium roof ventilation models and strategies used in study
Model Roof ventilation strategy
Reference
Model A1 Open courtyard, square in plan, no roof
Ventilation strategy: positive driving pressures across courtyard

Model A2 Atrium monopitch roof with no openings in roof

Ventilation strategy: positive driving pressures across atrium

Model A3 Atrium monopitch roof, small area of openings in leeward pitch of roof,
equivalent to 11.4% of total façade area
Ventilation strategy: negative suction pressures on atrium roof openings

Model A4 Atrium monopitch roof, large area of openings in leeward pitch of roof,
equivalent to 30.4% of total façade area
Ventilation strategy: negative suction pressures on atrium roof openings

Model A5 Atrium monopitch roof, small area of openings in windward vertical

element of roof equivalent to 11.4% of total façade area
Ventilation strategy: positive driving pressures on vertical roof openings

Model A6 Atrium monopitch roof, openings in leeward pitch of roof and openings
in windward vertical element equivalent to 30.4% of total façade area
Ventilation strategy: positive and negative pressures on atrium roof openings
240 S. Sharples and R. Bensalem

Fig. 2. Courtyard and atrium roof ventilation strategies used in study.

pings was measured using a digital manometer.
The orifice plate was calibrated, in its Perspex
container, against a precision commercially avail-
able flowmeter with an accuracy traceable to
national standards. The dynamic pressure in the
tunnel at the top of the boundary layer, together
with the internal pressure in the atrium well at
mid height, was also recorded. The flows through
each model were monitored on each floor and on
each façade of the model at two locations
positioned centrally. The error in flow observa-
tions was estimated at approximately 610%,
reflecting the fluctuations of the manometer sig-
nals. Fig. 3 shows the orifice plate located in one
of the Perspex atrium models.
2.2. The wind tunnel
The instrumented model was placed at the
centre of a 1.1 m diameter turntable in an
atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel. Two
wind directions (08 and 458) were investigated.
The tunnel had a working length of 7.2 m with a

Fig. 3. Orifice plate located in atrium building model.

 Airflow in courtyard and atrium buildings in the urban environment: a wind tunnel study 241

cross-section of 1.2 3 1.2 m, and a maximum
speed of 25 m s 21 . The wind tunnel was normally
run at this speed, which produced a windspeed at
eaves level of 16.4 m s 21 , to produce the maxi-
mum Reynolds number. A series of spires, castel-
lated fence and roughness elements in the wind
tunnel generated a suburban type velocity profile
at the turntable with a boundary layer height of
800 mm and a power-law exponent of 0.245. The
urban environment around the model was simu-
lated by surrounding the model with rectangular
wooden blocks of similar dimensions as the
model, where the height of each block, H, was the
same as the eaves height of the atrium and
courtyard models. The blocks were arranged in
either a uniform or staggered (checkerboard)
arrangement. The wall-to-wall spacing between
the blocks, Sc, was set at 1.5 and 2.3 times the
building height H. The lateral spacing, L, was set
to 0.5Sc for the staggered arrangement and to Sc
for the in-line layout. These arrangements pro-
duced area densities of 0.28 and 0.40 for the
uniform layout and 0.38 and 0.50 for the stag-
gered layout. Area density is defined as the ratio
of building plan area to building site area. A set of
measurements was also made on all the models in
isolation with no surrounding buildings.
The blocks were laid out to a fetch radius of
15H (three rows of blocks upstream and three
rows downstream) as test results showed no
change in measured airflows beyond this fetch.
The blockage in the tunnel was up to 8% at
normal wind incidence (08) and up to 11% for the
458 wind incidence direction. Although these
values are a little high it was decided to apply no
corrections to the results.
Each model was secured to the wind tunnel
turntable and the required layout put in position.
The tunnel was run for one hour to allow flow and
temperature conditions to stabilise. Each measure-
ment consisted of logging the pressure drop Dp
across the orifice plate whilst simultaneously
recording the dynamic pressure in the tunnel at
the boundary layer height of 800 mm using a
pitot-static tube. From this dynamic pressure
measurements it was possible to derive the refer-
ence wind speed at the top of the boundary layer,
V800 .
The standard orifice flow equation for estimat-
ing the flow Q though an opening of flow area A
is given by:
Q 5 Cd A([2Dp /r ])0.5 (1)
where Cd is the discharge coefficient of the
opening, Dp is the pressure difference across the
opening and r the air density. The air velocity at
the orifice plate opening, Vo , is given by Q /A, and
can be derived from eqn (1). In this study the
orifice plate relationship between Q and Dp was
established by calibration against a precision,
commercial flowmeter with an accuracy traceable
to national standards. Since Q and A were known
then Vo could be established
The results from the study were expressed as a
non-dimensional flow coefficient CQl:
velocity at an opening in the model, Vo
CQ1 5 ]]]]]]]]]]
velocity at the top of the boundary layer, V800
(2)
or
CQ1 5 Q /(A 3V800 ) (3)
CQt was used to represent the average of all the
CQl values measured for each model.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results of the experiments are discussed in
terms of the average of all the CQ1 model values
measured on each model, CQt, and the minimum
value of CQl observed in each model for the two
wind directions. A comparison is also made
between the CQt values for the models sur-
rounded by other building models and when the
models were in isolation. The detailed results
from the experiments are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Average flow coefficients CQt for uniform (U) and staggered (S) area densities (D) and wind directions 08 and 458
Model CQt CQt CQt CQt CQt
Ref. Isolation U, D50.28 U, D50.40 S, D50.38 S, D50.50
08 458 08 458 08 458 08 458 08 458
Model A1 0.126 0.179 0.074 0.144 0.071 0.118 0.065 0.126 0.057 0.084
Model A2 0.147 0.188 0.093 0.153 0.086 0.124 0.080 0.119 0.062 0.091
Model A3 0.140 0.166 0.085 0.145 0.087 0.114 0.088 0.122 0.083 0.095
Model A4 0.135 0.159 0.134 0.137 0.136 0.127 0.139 0.135 0.131 0.124
Model A5 0.179 0.189 0.108 0.159 0.119 0.127 0.086 0.117 0.098 0.094
Model A6 0.162 0.162 0.126 0.126 0.100 0.100 0.104 0.104 0.070 0.070
242 S. Sharples and R. Bensalem
3.1. 08 wind direction
Among the structures tested, the courtyard
model A1 had the poorest ventilation perform-
ance. For any of the urban layouts the CQt values
were typically between 0.065 and 0.071, com-
pared to a value of 0.126 for the courtyard in
isolation. The minimum CQl was very low, being
measured at one location at 0.02.
The closed roof atrium model A2 showed a
slightly improved performance over the courtyard,
with CQt values from 0.062 to 0.093 in the urban
layouts (compared to 0.147 for the isolated case),
and a minimum CQl of 0.04. However, the
distribution of the flows within the closed model
was uneven, with weak ventilation flows iden-
tified on the leeward side of the atrium. This
suggested that improved ventilation could be
achieved by encouraging flows to enter via the
roof.
Atrium models A3 and A4 both operated under
a roof suction regime, with A3 having a roof
porosity of 11.4% and A4 a porosity of 30.4%.
This roof suction mode was in conflict with the
negative pressure forces that were generated on
the leeward walls of the model. As a consequence
the CQt values for the low porosity roof model
A3 displayed little or no improvement over the
other models, with a range of 0.083 to 0.088. The
much greater roof porosity of model A4 created
larger roof suction flows and removed the prob-
lem of the negative leeward wall pressures. CQt
values were now found to be from 0.131 to 0.139,
with a minimum CQl never falling below 0.10. It
was observed that some of the CQt values were
slightly higher for model A4 in an urban layout
than when in isolation. This is thought to indicate
that the negative leeward wall pressures may have
Fig. 4. Ratio of sheltered to isolated average flow CQt for the courtyard and atrium models: 08 wind direction.
been reduced in magnitude as the group layout
closed up.
Atrium models A5 (with a porosity of 11.4%)
and A6 (with a porosity of 30.4%) operated under
positive and near atmospheric roof pressure re-
gimes respectively. Model A5 had CQt values
from 0.086 to 0.119 (0.179 in isolation), whilst
model A6 had CQt scores from 0.070 to 0.126
(0.162 in isolation). Minimum flow values for
both models were raised to around 0.06.
Fig. 4 shows, for the 08 wind direction, the ratio
for each model and each area density of the CQt
value measured in the urban layout to the CQt
value with the model in isolation. It is apparent
from Fig. 4 that the sheltering effect of the urban
surroundings reduced the average flows through
most of the models from 40% to 60% of the
average flow values when the models were iso-
lated. The exception for all area densities was
model A4, which had a large number of roof
openings operating under a suction flow regime.
The combination of big openings and strong
suction forces overcomes the effect of the sur-
rounding buildings.
3.2. 458 wind direction
Two major changes were observed when the
wind direction was altered to 458. Firstly, most of
the CQt values for the models increased — that
is, the ventilation performance of the models
improved. Secondly, the range of CQt values
between the different atrium and courtyard
models for a given group density became much
narrower, being typically within 610% of the
mean value for all models. The average CQt
values were approximately 0.15 at an area density
of 0.28, 0.12 at 0.40 and 0.38 area densities and
 Airflow in courtyard and atrium buildings in the urban environment: a wind tunnel study
Fig. 5. Ratio of sheltered to isolated average flow CQt for the courtyard and atrium models: 458 wind direction.
0.09 at 0.50 area density. The high porosity
suction roof of model A4 still performed slightly
better than the other arrangements, but the mag-
nitude of the improvement was only significant
for the highest area density value.
Fig. 5 shows, for the 458 wind direction, the
ratio for each model and each area density of the
CQt value measured in the urban layout to the
CQt value with the model in isolation. It is
apparent from Fig. 5 that the sheltering effect of
the urban surroundings is not as pronounced as
for the 08 wind direction. The average flows
through most of the models were 60% to 80% of
the average flow values when the models were in
isolation.
4. CONCLUSION
This study has investigated the ventilation
performance of courtyards and atrium buildings in
isolation and in urban group layouts. An open
courtyard in urban areas was found to have a
weak ventilation performance, particularly when
the courtyard was perpendicular to the oncoming
wind. Covering the courtyard with a porous roof
to form an atrium enables the large pressure fields
on the roof to provide stronger ventilation pres-
sure differentials. Roofs positioned to experience
positive or near atmospheric pressure conditions
performed less well than roofs exposed to nega-
tive pressure forces (suction) when winds are
perpendicular to the buildings. At an oblique wind
direction (458) most of the atrium roofs performed
to a similar standard. There are two major prob-
lems with using atrium roofs as ventilation de-
vices in urban areas. Firstly, to use the weaker
positive pressures requires large surface areas of
roof and / or a great number of openings. Second-
243
ly, for the suction roofs the negative pressures on
the leeward side of the building counteract the
negative pressures on the roof. More efficient
ventilation roof design may involve exploiting
Venturi effects or vortex generation at roof lead-
ing edges where accelerated flows could be
utilised.
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