Qualitative and comparative assessment of natural ventilation flow patterns through the use of physical models in a Water Table and CFD simulations

Natural ventilation is essential for air renewal, building cooling, and promoting thermal comfort for users; however, its analysis requires complex software. Water tables present an accessible and easy-to-handle alternative to overcome this limitation. The objective is to qualitatively assess whether the results generated by the water table accurately represent natural ventilation flow patterns in more complex physical models. Experimental tests are conducted on a water table and compared with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to achieve this. The methodology consists of four stages: 1) Determining the model; 2) Characterizing the water table; 3) Describing the configurations used in the computational simulations; and 4) Analyzing the results. The results were satisfactory, showing similarities in air flow behavior in both the internal and external areas of the building, although discrepancies emerged in zones with low air circulation.