AN ASSIGNMENT ON:

VENTILATION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Prepared By:
(AJAYI ADEMOLA MOSES)

Matriculation Number:
(BLD/2019/024)

Course Title: (BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURAL SCIENCE)

Course Code: BLD 205

DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING
OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY

Submitted To:
(DR WAHAB)
Lecturer in Charge

DECEMBER 21, 2022.

QUESTION ONE
Using relevant illustrations and sketches, write on the need for the provision of
optimum ventilation condition in a public building.

Ventilation helps your home rid itself of moisture, smoke, cooking odours, and indoor
pollutants. Structural ventilation controls heat levels in the attic, moderates dampness in
the crawlspace and basement, and keeps moisture out of uninsulated walls. It is also good
to have an airflow that is uninterrupted, as anything blocking the air flow in your home
can cause damage to both your home and your health. One of the reasons ventilation is so
important is because it controls how much moisture is lingering in your home.

Without a ventilation system in place, you have no control of the air flow in a building

One of the basic necessities of life which are food, shelter, water and Air is of great
importance to humans most especially in public buildings where there is high traffic and
congestion most of the time. Research has shown that people spend about 90 percent of
their time indoor since the majority of people’s daily activities take place indoor, the
atmosphere inside of public building has a major impact on the health and safety of
majority of the population can actually have more damaging effects on health than
pollution in the air outside. This necessitates the need for cross ventilation in public
buildings because it helps to mitigate these health risks while also protecting the public
buildings.

A public buildings could be church, mosque, schools, or hospital, which holds a large
crow for a number of reasons and etc. and if proper care is not taking in public buildings,
which is always crowded needs to be supply the occupants with good ventilation so as to
prevent suffocations; and there is a  needs for cross ventilation in public buildings more
so, a researcher Maslow 1943 opined that  cross ventilation is of paramount importance
for human existences as consider the core basic needs and necessities. He further posited
shelter and food security and water as essential ingredients that nourish the psychological
and mental frame of mind of human, and when this basic needs are met; human beings
level of productivity increases up to the next stage of quest for better living condition.
Ventilation is critical to home comfort. Proper ventilations prevent air pollutants from
affecting the health of you and your family. Not only that having air flow in your home
can get rid of any unwanted smells, such as from cooking and pets. It is also good to have
an air flow that is uninterrupted, as anything blocking the air in your homes can Cause
damage to both your homes and your health.

Needs for ventilation:

 Heating and cooling needs;

 Energy efficiency;

 Humidity control;

 Outdoor air quantity and quality;

 Classrooms and other school spaces must be ventilated to remove odors and other
pollutants.

 To maintain air purity

 Removal of co2

 Prevention of condensation

 To dilute and disposal of contaminants such as smoke, dust, gases and body odor.

 To enhance optimum air velocity between 0.15 and 0.5 m/s.

 To control humidity behavior 30 and 70 % relative humidity.

 To protect people from heat concentrators.

 To disperse concentrations of bacteria.

The use of HVAC is very vital in guaranteeing proper ventilation in public

building .
The main purposes of a Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system
are to help maintain good indoor air quality (IAQ) through adequate ventilation
with filtration and provide thermal comfort. HVAC systems are among the largest
energy consumers in schools, churches etc.
.
QUESTION TWO
Briefly explain the mechanisms of providing natural ventilation in residential and
commercial buildings.

There are three mechanisms to providing natural ventilation in residential and

commercial building .

 cross ventilation, where pressure differences between one side of

the building and the other draw air in on the high pressure side and
draw it out on the low pressure side. Cross ventilation is suitable
for buildings up to approximately 12 to 15m in depth (five times
the floor to ceiling height, or 2.5 times the floor to ceiling height if
openings can only be provided on one side). Beyond this, providing
sufficient fresh air creates draughts close to openings, and
additional design elements such as internal courtyards are necessary, or
the inclusion of elements such as atrium that combine cross
ventilation and stack effects. A disadvantage of cross ventilation is that
it tends to be least effective on hot still days, when it is needed most.

  stack ventilation  where cooler air enters the building at low level, is

heated by occupants, equipment, heating systems and so on, becomes
less dense and so more buoyant and rises through the building to
be ventilated to the outside at the top.
Stack effect

 As air gets warmer it becomes less dense and so more buoyant. This means
that warm air has a tendency to rise.
 This effect can be used to naturally ventilate buildings. Cooler
outside air is drawn into buildings at a lower level, it is warmed by sources
of heat within the building (such as people, equipment, heating and solar
gain), and then rises through the building to vent out at a higher level.
 A positive pressure area is created at the top of a building and
negative pressure area at the bottom. This process can
take place without mechanical assistance, simply by introducing openings at
the bottom and the top of buildings. It is known as the stack effect or stack
ventilation.
 Stack ventilation can be particularly effective as a means of
naturally ventilating tall buildings that include vertical spaces which rise
throughout their height, for example buildings with central atriums. This can
be useful in deep buildings, where cross ventilation may not be sufficient to
penetrate to spaces in the heart of the building.
 The effectiveness of stack ventilation is influenced by:
 The effective area of openings.
 The height of the stack.
 The temperature difference between the bottom and the top of the stack.
 Pressure differences outside the building.
 The stack effect is a relatively weak force in many buildings (although it can
be strong enough to fly a kite in large buildings) and so it may be necessary
to have large openings with minimal resistance.
 The pressure will vary through the height of the building, with the
outside pressure being higher than the inside pressure at the bottom of
the building, but the inside pressure being higher at the top. As
a consequence, there will be a neutral plane, which is the level at which the
internal and external pressure are equal. Above the neutral plane the
internal air pressure will be positive and so air will tend to exhaust to the
outside. Below the neutral plane, the internal air pressure will be negative
and air will tend to be drawn into the building. This requires careful design to
ensure that the neutral plane is above the spaces that need to
be ventilated from the outside.
 Stack ventilation is not appropriate for all building types, and as the stack
effect requires that the internal temperature is higher than the
outside temperature, it may not always provide a sufficient cooling effect by
itself and additional mechanical cooling may be necessary
 Natural ventilation can also be influenced by occupant behaviour, for
example, a person near to a window choosing to close it. For this
reason it can be beneficial to automate natural ventilation systems, or
to provide training for occupants. It is important then
to monitor behaviour to ensure systems continue to be operated as
intended. Automation of ventilation systems can
leave occupants feeling disempowered, unable to locally influence
the conditions around them (for example by opening or closing
a window) and consequently more likely to be dissatisfied with
those conditions. In modern buildings, which tend to be designed to be
completely sealed from the outside unless windows or
other ventilators are open, problems, such as condensation, can occur
during the winter when openings are closed. As a result, ‘trickle
ventilation’, or 'background' ventilation tends to be provided to ensure
there is always an adequate level of ventilation. Trickle ventilators can
be self-balancing, with the size of the open area depending on
the air pressure difference across it. It is possible, although relatively
complicated to include heat recovery in natural ventilation systems so
that during cooler conditions, heat recovered from extract air is used to
pre-heat fresh air entering the building
.In addition, thermal mass can be used to pre-heat supply air.
For example, see Thermal Labyrinth and Ground preconditioning of
supply air.