ABSTRACT
Air movement through high-rise apartment buildings is believed to have considerable impact on building performance in the areas of occupant comfort, energy consumption, indoor air quality and deterioration of exterior envelope components. The traditional approach to reducing air leakage has been to seal the building envelope. An alternative that has been suggested for apartment building is to incorporate a compartmentalization sealing strategy that seeks to isolate the living units from other compartments so that they equalize pressure with the exterior. This will reduce the driving force that causes air leakage to or from the outside.
The objectives of this study were to:
- Measure the actual pressure differentials across various separations within a high-rise apartment building
- Generate and analyze potential ways of reducing the air leakage through these separations
- To draw conclusions on how reducing air leakage affects air movement in the building. The effects include changes in operation of typical current ventilation strategies and fire and smoke control measures.