Thermal environment characteristics of enclosed semi-translucent membrane structure industrial buildings: Effects of solar radiation and internal heat sources

Translucent membrane-enclosed industrial buildings provide an effective solution for controlling fugitive dust emissions from open-air stockpiles. However, under the combined effects of solar radiation, long-wave radiation, and convective heat transfer, the indoor thermal environment of such enclosed translucent membrane structures deteriorates significantly. In this study, an indoor ventilation airflow model was established and validated using experimental data. The indoor thermal environment of industrial membrane buildings under different ventilation conditions was investigated, by considering the coupled effects of solar radiation and heat radiation from internal heat sources. The influence of key ventilation parameters-including air inlet and outlet layout, dimensionless equivalent opening area ( A/H 2 ), and inlet height-on the internal velocity and temperature fields has been characterized. It has been shown that under a two-inlet and two-outlet configuration, the average temperature in the working zone has been measured to be 31.6 °C, the ventilation rate has reached 56.22 kg/s, and the airflow velocity above the material surface ranged from 0.4 to 0.6 m/s, indicating a limited risk of significant airflow-induced dust re-entrainment under the simulated conditions. When the dimensionless equivalent opening area ( A/H 2 ) of the inlets and outlets was varied, adjusting the dimensionless( A/H 2 )of the inlets has been found to be more effective in reducing the working zone temperature, with an optimal range of 0.34 to 0.45. The lower edge of the air inlet should not exceed 0.75 m, under which condition fresh air has been demonstrated to adequately flow through the working area, resulting in improved ventilation performance.