Experimental evaluation of COMIS results for ventilation of a detached house

This paper presents a comparison of measured airflows in a detached house with the results of a simulation model. The house was built mainly for experimental purposes and therefore allows very detailed measurements of the interior and the outside microclimate (e.g., wind velocity, air temperature, humidity, etc.). The air permeability of the house was characterized by means of a pressurization technique. Ventilation measurements were carried out using the tracer gas technique (decay method with two gases, SF6 and N2O). A mobile, multizone, multitracer apparatus, designed and built by the authors, was used. The measured data were analyzed using an inverse problem technique in order to calculate the time histories of the airflow rates during the measurement period and their uncertainties. The building envelope air-leakage coefficients and meteorological data were used in COMIS to obtain the simulated airflow rates. The comparison with measured airflows allows one to define the application limits of the model discussed here.