Airtightness Assessment under Several Low-Pressure Differences in Non-Residential Buildings

Abstract

The thermal performance of building envelopes is significantly affected by building insulation and airtightness. However, most studies have focused on improving thermal performance in building envelopes, while few studies on improving airtightness in buildings have been conducted. The present study measured airtightness and infiltration in non-residential buildings using fan pressurization and tracer gas methods. By analyzing the results obtained from both methods, the distribution of the correlation factors was identified, which can be used for the air leakage rates obtained from the blower door test to estimate the infiltration rates under natural airflow conditions. Since it is difficult to get the values of ACH50 through the blower door test in buildings of large volume or where large air leakages occur, the study proposed a method to convert the values of airtightness under several low-pressure differences of 20 Pa, 25 Pa, 30 Pa and 35 Pa into ACH50 using conversion coefficient. By dividing the air leakage rate under 20 Pa pressure difference by the conversion coefficient of 0.60, the values of ACH50 can be estimated. Results converted to ACH50 using conversion coefficient for various pressure differences of 20 Pa, 25 Pa, 30 Pa, and 35 Pa showed an error of 0.1–4.4%, respectively, compared to actual ACH50 measurement results.