Effective draft temperature for evaluating the performance of stratum ventilation

With its reliability and simplicity, effective draft temperature (EDT) has been a popular tool for the practice engineers to evaluate and/or predict the performance of mixing ventilation. In this study, experimental measurements are conducted in a large environmental chamber under stratum ventilation. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, which is previously validated extensively, is further validated with the experimental data generated in the current study. Simulations are also carried out using the validated model. Data generated by means of experiment and of simulation are used to formulate effective draft temperature for stratum ventilation (EDTS). Similar to its counterpart for mixing ventilation, the new effective draft temperature for stratum ventilation (EDTS) is also found to be reliable and straightforward in evaluation of the performance in thermal comfort of stratum ventilation. The effective draft temperature for stratum ventilation (EDTS) has the potential to be applied easily by practice engineers in air distribution design of stratum ventilation. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.