Analysis of Louvre Angles in Cross Ventilation Systems for Enhanced Airflow and Indoor Cooling

Cross ventilation is one of the most common strategies for enhancing indoor comfort and decreasing pollutants’ concentrations. It can also be used as an indirect cooling tool to lower cooling requirements for buildings. Nevertheless, inadequate distribution of airflow in buildings and incorrect orientation of the louvres result in localized thermal discomfort and inadequate ventilation. This paper looks at the airflow patterns of a SolidWorks designed ventilation system and examines the influence of various louvre positions and slat angles of 15° and 30° through numerical modeling. The simulations were performed using RNG k-ε and SST k-⍵ turbulence models with the wind inlet velocity of 0.3 m/s which is the average wind velocity in Malaysia. The findings indicate that a 15° slat angle provides the best airflow distribution because the small angle allows a smooth entrance of air and little turbulence. On the other hand, a 30° slat angle increases velocity and pressure at the inlet and leads to turbulence and issues for indoor climate. The SST k-⍵ model provided higher velocity predictions than the RNG k-ε model, suggesting that it is better for capturing the detailed flow characteristics. Therefore, this study was able to show the effects of louvre angles on airflow patterns and found the 15° slat angle to be the most effective for ventilation with low turbulence.