Development of Numerical Model and Design Framework for Mixed-Mode Ventilation in the Tropics

In Singapore, the building sector is responsible for consuming about one-third of the country’s total energy consumption (BCA, 2020). This is because more buildings are being built over the years to cater to the increasing population size and economic activities. To mitigate climate change, Singapore has unveiled a green plan where there is a target by the Government to green 80% of Singapore’s buildings by the year 2030 (MND, 2021). To improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption in building, alternative cooling systems such as mixed-mode ventilation is recommended in this paper. Mixed-mode ventilation for building concepts have been explored and used in other countries (Etheridge, D., & Ford, B. (2008); Ezzeldin, S., & Rees, S. J. (2013); Keep, T., Lavedrine, I., Wood, J., & Arup. (2008).). Literature study shows that by using mixed-mode ventilation system, there is potential to save about half of the energy consumed as compared to conventional mechanical ventilation system (Ezzeldin, S., & Rees, S. J. (2013)). Furthermore, mixed-mode cooling strategies should be able to provide a satisfactory indoor environment (Ezzeldin, S., & Rees, S. J. (2013)). For this paper, the use of simulation techniques such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is adopted to accurately predict both spatial and temporal field solutions as well as the overall system evaluation and design.