Outdoor Ventilation Airflow Calculations Page 1 of 6

Outdoor Ventilation Airflow Calculations

This help topic documents how the required outdoor ventilation airflow rate is calculated. Control of outdoor
ventilation air during off-design times is described in a separate help topic.
Overview
The general procedure for calculating the outdoor ventilation airflow requirement for a system is as follows:
1. Calculate outdoor ventilation airflow for each space served by the system based on outdoor air requirements
defined by the user.
2. If the system uses the "Sum of Space OA Airflows" method for sizing ventilation air, sum the outdoor airflow
requirements for all spaces to obtain the system outdoor airflow rate.
3. If the system uses the "ASHRAE Std 62-2001" or the "ASHRAE Std 62-2001 (max only)" method, the
ASHRAE Standard 62-2001 Ventilation Rate Procedure (Section 6.1) is used to determine the outdoor
airflow requirements for all spaces and for the system. The Multiple Spaces portion of the Ventilation Rate
Procedure is designed to ensure that all spaces in a multiple-space system receive their required outdoor
airflow.
4. If the system uses the one of the ASHRAE Standard 62.1 methods (2004, 2007, 2010, or 2013), the
Ventilation Rate Procedure (Section 6.2 and Appendix A) from the Standard 62.1 is used to determine
outdoor airflow requirements for all spaces and the system.
These four steps are described in greater detail in separate sections below.

A. Calculating Space Ventilation Requirements

1. Define Space Requirements. One or two outdoor airflow requirements are defined by the user for each
space served by a system. The units of measure for these requirements can be CFM/person, CFM/sqft,
CFM or % of supply air. In SI Metric units the choices are L/s/person, L/s/sqm, L/s or % of supply air.
2. Calculate Uncorrected Space Outdoor Airflows. The specifications from step 1 are used to determine the
space outdoor airflow requirement in CFM or L/s. If only one requirement is defined for the space, it alone
establishes the outdoor airflow for the space. If two requirements are specified, then the sum of these
requirements establishes the outdoor airflow for the space. Calculations for the four different units of
measure options are as follows:
English Units
Outdoor CFM = (CFM/person) x (Maximum Occupants in Space)
Outdoor CFM = (CFM/sqft) x (Space Floor Area in sqft)
Outdoor CFM = (CFM specified by user)
Outdoor CFM = (% of Supply Air) x (Space Maximum Supply Airflow)
SI Metric Units
Outdoor L/s = (L/s /person) x (Maximum Occupants in Space)
Outdoor L/s = (L/s /sqm) x (Space Floor Area in sqm)
Outdoor L/s = (L/s specified by user)
Outdoor L/s = (% of Supply Air) x (Space Maximum Supply Airflow)
Note: For Standard 62.1 (2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 editions) ventilation calculations uncorrected space outdoor
airflow calculations involves additional considerations not addressed here. Please see section D below for
details.

B. Calculating System Ventilation Airflow by Summation Method

If the "Sum of Space OA Airflows" method is specified for a system, the total outdoor airflow rate for the system
is simply the sum of outdoor airflows for spaces served by the system. This "summation" method is used in
many jurisdictions not subject to ASHRAE Standard 62.1 and is also typically used in jurisdictions not subject
to any formal ventilation code.
Required Outdoor Airflow for System = (Sum of Required Outdoor Airflows for all Spaces)

C. Calculating System Ventilation Airflow by ASHRAE Std 62-2001

If the "ASHRAE Std 62-2001" or "ASHRAE Std 62-2001 (max only)" method is specified for sizing ventilation

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airflow, the total outdoor airflow rate for the system is determined using the Ventilation Rate Procedure from
ASHRAE Standard 62-2001 Section 6.1. The Multiple Spaces portion of this procedure is designed to ensure
that all spaces in a multiple space system receive their required outdoor airflow rates. The discussion below
summarizes how the calculation is performed. The discussion assumes the reader has a basic familiarity with
Standard 62-2001 provisions and concepts.
VAV systems. Standard 62 requires the minimum outdoor airflow rates listed in Table 2 of the Standard be
provided to spaces in a system at all times. However, the Standard is not specific about procedures required to
ensure this for VAV systems. One formal request for interpretation of the Standard asked if ventilation airflow
requirements should be calculated at minimum VAV box position. The response from the Standard 62
committee indicated this was an acceptable approach, but other acceptable approaches also existed. For VAV
systems, HAP performs the Multiple Spaces portion of the Ventilation Rate Procedure for both "terminal boxes
full open" and "terminal boxes at minimum flow" conditions and then chooses the larger ventilation airflow rate
as the requirement for the system. HAP also gives users the option of choosing an "ASHRAE Std 62-2001
(max only)" sizing method which will only consider the "terminal boxes full open" condition for sizing
calculations. This extra option is to provide a designer with the flexibility to choose what he or she feels is the
most suitable approach to compliance. Because the Standard is not specific about VAV applications,
engineering judgement must be used to choose the most suitable approach.
For constant volume systems, and for VAV systems for the "terminal boxes full open" condition, the Ventilation
Rate Procedure is performed as follows:
1. Calculate Uncorrected Outdoor Airflow Fraction Z. Z is calculated for each space in the system as
follows:
Z = (Uncorrected Outdoor Airflow for Space) / (Maximum Supply Airflow for Space)
2. Identify Critical Space. Identify the space having the largest Z fraction among all spaces served by the
system. This is the "critical space".
3. Calculate Uncorrected Outdoor Airflow Fraction X.
Total Uncorrected Outdoor Airflow = Sum of Uncorrected Outdoor Airflow for all Spaces.
Total Maximum Supply Airflow = Sum of Maximum Supply Airflow for all Spaces
X = (Total Uncorrected Outdoor Airflow) / (Total Maximum Supply Airflow)
4. Calculate Corrected Outdoor Airflow Fraction Y. Y is the ratio of corrected outdoor airflow for the system
divided by total supply airflow for the system. It is calculated using Equation 6-1 in the Standard:
Y = X / [1 + X – Z]
Discussion: All spaces receive supply air containing one uniform percentage of outdoor air. Therefore, the
critical space, which requires the highest percentage of outdoor air, influences the mixture of outdoor air
delivered to all other spaces. For example, if the critical space requires 50% outside air in its supply airflow,
and other spaces require 25%, a simplistic view is that all spaces must receive a 50% mixture of outdoor air
so that the critical space is satisfied. However, this oversupplies outdoor air to the non-critical spaces. The
Standard allows a credit for the fact that some outdoor air delivered to non-critical spaces is unused or
"unvitiated" and that some of this unvitiated air is recirculated. Therefore, the percentage of outdoor air in
supply air can be below that required by the critical space and still satisfy the critical space requirements.
Both the critical space and the unvitiated air considerations are incorporated in Equation 6-1 above. Thus,
using our simple example, it may be possible for a 38% mixture of outdoor air in supply air to satisfy both the
50% critical space requirement (due to unvitiated recirculated air) and the non-critical space requirements.
5. Calculate Corrected Outdoor Airflow for Spaces and System. Finally, use the Y factor to determine the
corrected outdoor airflow requirements for spaces and the system:
Corrected Outdoor Airflow For Space = Y x {Maximum Supply Airflow for Space}
Corrected Outdoor Airflow for System = Y x (Maximum Supply Airflow for System}
Or
Corrected Outdoor Airflow for System = {Sum of Corrected Outdoor Airflow Rates for Spaces}
For constant volume systems and for VAV systems using the "ASHRAE Std 62-2001 (max only)" sizing
method, the calculation stops at this point.
For VAV systems using the "ASHRAE Std 62-2001" sizing method, HAP repeats steps 1 thru 5 above using
the minimum space supply airflow rate in each place where the maximum space supply airflow is mentioned.
This represents a "terminal boxes at minimum flow" design condition. This yields a second corrected outdoor
airflow value for the system. The outdoor airflow results from "terminal boxes full open" and from "terminal
boxes at minimum position" are compared. The larger value is chosen as the outdoor airflow requirement for
the system.

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Note: If the calculated outdoor ventilation airflow is less than the direct exhaust airflow total for all zones in the
system, the program overrides the calculated value and sets ventilation airflow equal to direct exhaust airflow.
Example: Based on a 25 CFM/person ventilation specification, the program calculates that 5000 CFM of
ventilation air is required. However, the total amount of direct exhaust air specified for zones in the system is
6500 CFM. Therefore, the program overrides the ventilation calculation and uses 6500 as the required
ventilation airflow rate.

D. Calculating System Ventilation Airflow by ASHRAE Standard 62.1 (2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 editions)
If the one of the ASHRAE Standard 62.1 methods (2004, 2007, 2010, 2013) is specified for sizing ventilation
airflow, the total outdoor airflow rate for the system is determined using the Ventilation Rate Procedure from
section 6.2 and Appendix A of the named Standard. The discussion below summarizes how the calculation is
performed. This discussion assumes the reader has a basic familiarity with Standard 62.1 provisions and
concepts.
Notes About Terminology:
1. The term "zone" is used throughout ASHRAE Standard 62.1 to refer to what HAP identifies as a "space". To
avoid confusion, the following discussion will adopt HAP's terminology. For example, what the Standard
refers to as a "zone ventilation efficiency" will be referred to here as "space ventilation efficiency" for clarity.
2. In Standard 62.1 the Ventilation Rate Procedure is performed separately for each ventilation system which is
a fan system providing air to one or more spaces. Therefore one Standard 62.1 sizing calculation is
performed for each central system such as a CAV, VAV, VVT, dual duct or triple duct system. In terminal
systems such as fan coils, water source heat pumps, VRF, PTAC, induction beam or active chilled beam
systems, one Standard 62.1 calculation is performed separately for each terminal unit zone, and a separate
calculation is performed for the dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS), if applicable..
Overview. The Standard 62.1 procedure involves two fundamental calculation steps. First the required
breathing zone ventilation airflow rate is calculated for each space based on the CFM/sqft (L/s/sqm) and
CFM/person requirements for that space. Second, the calculation determines how much outdoor ventilation air
is required at the central system outdoor air intake to ensure that each space receives its required breathing
zone ventilation. Often the ventilation airflow required at intake is larger than the sum of the breathing zone
airflows. The amount of increase in airflow depends on critical space issues and the air distribution
effectiveness of the system and its air terminals.
a. The Critical Space concept existed in earlier editions of the Standard, but the mathematics for handling it
are different beginning in the 2004 edition. "Critical Space" involves a concept that meeting the ventilation
requirements of one space may require overventilating other spaces. Suppose space A has a supply airflow
of 800 CFM and requires 200 CFM of outside air, or 25% of supply. Suppose space B has a supply airflow
of 600 CFM and requires 300 CFM of outside air, or 50% of supply. Both spaces receive supply air from the
same AHU. If that supply air contains 25% ventilation air, the ventilation requirement of Space A will be met,
but the ventilation requirement of Space B will not be met. The common supply air must contain more than
25% outdoor air in order meet Space B requirements. This will overventilate Space A. However, once Space
A is overventilated, there is unused or "unvitiated" ventilation air that recirculates from Space A and that
moderates the need to increase supply air all the way to 50% ventilation. In this example Space B is the
critical space. The Standard 62.1 ventilation sizing calculation analyzes the requirements of all the spaces to
determine whether overventilation is necessary and if so, how much is needed to ensure that all spaces
receive their required ventilation airflow.
b. The Air Distribution Effectiveness is a also new concept in the 2004 edition. In the 2004 and later editions
it is not enough to simply deliver ventilation air to a space. That air must reach the breathing zone of its
occupants. Different types of systems and air terminals are more or less effective at delivering ventilation air
to this breathing zone. Therefore, the effectiveness of the equipment is considered in calculating ventilation
requirements.
Both the critical space and air distribution effectiveness considerations are built into a "space ventilation
efficiency" value calculated for each space. The critical space is the one having the lowest ventilation
efficiency. This critical space ventilation efficiency is used to correct the original uncorrected airflow
requirements to obtain the total ventilation airflow required at intake.
This entire calculation is performed twice - once for the design cooling condition and once for the design
heating condition. The results of the two calculations are compared and the larger value is used as the required
outdoor ventilation airflow for the system.
Steps in the calculation process are summarized below. The first step calculates the breathing zone outdoor
airflow for each space. The remaining steps are needed to derive the system ventilation efficiency and
compute the total system ventilation airflow requirement.
1. Calculate "Breathing Zone Outdoor Air" for Each Space. (6.2.2.1 and 6.2.6.2).

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Vbz = Rp Pz + Ra Az
or
Vbz = (CFM/person)(People) + (CFM/sqft)(Floor Area)
Vbz = (L/s/person)(People) + (L/s/sqm)(FloorArea)
where:
Vbz = Breathing zone outdoor airflow for space
Rp = Outdoor airflow per person requirement.
Pz = Space population.
Ra = Outdoor airflow per unit floor are requirement
Az = Floor area for space.
The space population, Pz, is calculated as:
Pz = (Maximum Occupants Specified) x (Time Averaging Factor).
If the number of people in the space fluctuates over time, the Standard allows the space population to be
estimated using an averaging procedure. First, the time averaging interval is calculated using equation 6-9a
in paragraph 6.2.6.2 of the standard. The interval is a function of the ventilation air change for the space.
Then average occupant schedule values are calculated for this interval and the largest average value is
used to determine the time averaging factor.
Example: A 2000 sqft space, with floor to ceiling height of 9 ft, has 10 occupants. The requirements for this
space are 5 CFM/person and 0.06 CFM/sqft. Using 10 occupants and 2000 sqft, the uncorrected outdoor
airflow (Vbz) is 170 CFM. The time averaging interval is 3 x Space Volume / Vbz which equals 318 minutes
or 5.3 hours. This is rounded to 5 hours. Next the program calculates an average schedule factor for each
group of 5 consecutive hours in the design day schedule. First hours 0000 thru 0400 are used, then 0100
thru 0500, then 0200 thru 0600, etc... For example, if the schedule values for five consecutive hours are
60%, 80%, 100%, 100% and 100%, the average for this block is 88%. Once averages are calculated for
each 5-hour block in the day, the largest average is used as the Time Averaging Factor.
Notes:
a. When demand controlled ventilation (DCV) control is used, ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2004 does not permit
time averaging to be applied. This restriction is stated on page 6-34 of the 62.1 User's Manual for
Standard 62.1-2004. Therefore HAP does not calculate time averaging for this case. When using
Standard 62.1-2007, the same restriction applies and is documented on page 6-36 of the 62.1 User's
Manual for Standard 62.1-2007.
b. If your occupant schedule uses 100% for all hours of the day, the Time Averaging factor will be 100%. As
a result, there is no reduction in the number of occupants used in the calculation of required ventilation
airflow.
c. Also note that only CFM/person (L/s/person) and CFM/sqft (L/s/sqm) airflow requirements are used in this
calculation. If you have specified a total airflow (CFM or L/s) or "% of supply airflow" ventilation
requirement for the space, these values will not be considered in the calculation as they are outside the
scope of the Standard 62.1-2004 Ventilation Rate procedure.
2. Determine Space Air Distribution Effectiveness (6.2.2.2)
The space air distribution effectiveness measures the ability of the air distribution system to deliver
ventilation air into the breathing zone of the space. Effectiveness values are provided in Table 6-2 of the
Standard. HAP assigns a value from this table to each space based on the air system type and air terminal
type for the space:
a. For all cooling applications an effectiveness of 1.0 is used. For ceiling supply of cold air, Table 6-2
specifies a value of 1.0. This applies to all HAP system types and air terminals. For purposes of this
calculation the program assumes fan coil and WSHP terminals are ceiling mounted.
b. For systems which deliver warm air from a ceiling supply diffuser, and have supply air 15 F (8.3 K) or
more above room air temperature, an effectiveness of 0.8 is used.
c. For systems which deliver warm air from a ceiling supply diffuser, and have supply air less than 15 F (8.3
K) warmer than room air, an effectiveness of 1.0 is used.
3. Calculate Space Outdoor Airflow (6.2.2.3)
The required outdoor air for the space is calculated by dividing the breathing zone outdoor air by the space
air distribution effectiveness.
Voz = Vbz / Ez

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where
Voz = Space outdoor airflow..
Vbz = Breathing zone outdoor airflow.
Ez = Air distribution effectiveness for space.
4. For a system serving a single space, the total system ventilation airflow is equal to Voz for the single space.
For a system providing 100% outdoor air to all spaces, the total system ventilation airflow is the sum of Voz
values for all spaces in the system. In both cases this is the end of the calculation procedure. On the other
hand, if a system serves multiple spaces and does not provide 100% outdoor air, further calculations are
required to determine system ventilation requirements. These additional steps are described below.
5. Calculate the Primary Outdoor Air Fraction for Each Space. (6.2.5.1)
The primary outdoor air fraction defines ventilation air as a percentage of supply air to the space. It is
calculated as:
Zp = Voz / Vpz
where
Zp = Primary outdoor air fraction.
Voz = Space outdoor airflow.
Vpz = Primary supply airflow for space.
For constant volume (CAV) systems the design supply airflow is used as Vpz. For variable volume (VAV)
systems, the Standard requires that minimum primary supply airflow be used.
6. Calculate System Ventilation Efficiency (6.2.5.2 and Appendix A)
As mentioned earlier in the Overview paragraph, the system ventilation efficiency accounts for critical space
issues.
Procedures in Appendix A of the Standard are used to calculate a space ventilation efficiency for each
space. The space having the lowest ventilation efficiency is identified as the critical space. The critical space
ventilation efficiency is used as the system ventilation efficiency. Calculation of space ventilation efficiency
uses a lengthy series of equations which will not be reproduced here. The reader is directed to Appendix A
of the Standard for full details.
The space ventilation efficiency represents the ratio of airflow at system intake required to ensure the proper
amount of ventilation air reaches the space divided outdoor airflow required at the space. For example, if a
space requires 200 CFM of outdoor air and has a ventilation efficiency of 0.75, 200/0.75 or 267 CFM of
outdoor air must be introduced at the system intake to ensure that the space receives its 200 CFM of
outdoor air. Therefore, the space with the lowest ventilation efficiency dictates the overall outdoor airflow for
the system since it will require the largest amount of over ventilation of other spaces to ensure it receives its
required airflow.
Note that the Standard provides two methods for determining System Ventilation Efficiency. The simplified
approach is to use efficiency values from Table 6-3 of the Standard. While this approach is simple, it tends
to result in a system ventilation airflow that is not optimized. The second approach is to use Appendix A.
While this approach is more computationally difficult, it tends to optimize the resulting system ventilation
airflow. Since a computer is performing the calculations, the Appendix A approach was selected for use
here.
7. Calculate System Uncorrected Outdoor Intake Airflow (6.2.5.3)
The total uncorrected outdoor air intake airflow for the system is the sum of uncorrected airflows for spaces
in the system, accounting for diversity, if necessary. The Standard refers to this as the "uncorrected outdoor
air intake", Vou. It is calculated as:
Vou = D (sum of RpPz all spaces) + (sum of RaAz all spaces)
where:
Vou = Uncorrected outdoor airflow rate for system.
D = Diversity factor.
Rp = Per person ventilation requirement for space.
Pz = Space population, calculated as described in item 1 above.
Ra = Per area ventilation requirement for space.
Az = Floor area of space.
If you specified the same diversity factor (or used the default of 100%) for all zones in your air system on the
Zone Components tab, Thermostats data view, then D equals the value you specified. If you specified
different diversity factors for individual zones in your air system then D is calculated as:

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D = (sum of {diversity factor x Pz), all spaces) / (sum of Pz, all spaces)
where Pz is the space population whose calculation was discussed earlier in item 1.
8. Calculate Outdoor Air Intake Airflow Rate for System (6.2.5.4)
Finally the design ventilation rate for the system can be calculated. The standard refers to this value as
"outdoor air intake", Vot. It is calculated as:
Vot = Vou / Ev
where
Vot = Outdoor air intake flow rate for the system.
Vou = Uncorrected outdoor air intake flow rate for system (discussed in item 7)
Ev = System efficiency (discussed in item 6)
Note: If the required outdoor ventilation airflow for the system is less than the total direct exhaust airflow for the
system, the program overrides the calculated value and sets ventilation airflow equal to direct exhaust airflow.
Example: Based on the Standard 62.1 calculation calculates that 5000 CFM of ventilation air is required for
the system. However, the total amount of direct exhaust air specified for zones in the system is 6500 CFM.
Therefore, the program overrides the ventilation calculation and uses 6500 as the required ventilation airflow
rate.

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