The preliminary evaluation of design guidelines of stratum ventilation in a large tropical lecture hall

Abstract This article presents a study conducted to test the design guidelines of stratum ventilation (SV) for the conditions set in the tropics (Malaysia). Three different ventilation strategies and six different cases for SV were designed and examined by varying the layout of the return outlets and the air change per hour values. The ventilation strategy with a return outlet at the same level on opposite wall was found better than others. The simulation results of the medium-size room show that the thermal comfort is only favourable up to the centre region. Locations near the diffusers were noticed too cold and locations far away were too warm. In addition, the air flow pattern shows that the room has a high PPD due to quasi-stagnant zones that exist between the air jets from the diffusers. A similar condition does not exist in the small-size room, which was found under the acceptable range of PPD index (0%–25%). The ventilation strategy-1 (VS-1) is found with a greater energy saving with EUC 1.45 for the small room and 1.50 for the medium room compared to the other two ventilation strategies. The SV design guidelines are found adequate for the need of thermal comfort.