Airflow in a multi-zone building can be a major cause of pollutant transfer, excessive energy consumption, and occupants discomfort. The key to monitoring airflows and mitigating related problems is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of pressure relationships within the buildings. This study proposes a visualization method for representing pressure distribution within a multi-zone building by using a novel pressure-sensing system. The system consists of a Master device and a couple of Slave devices that are connected with each other by a wireless sensor network. A 4-story office building and a 49-story residential building were installed with the system to detect pressure variations. The spatial and numerical mapping relationships of each zone were further determined through grid-forming and coordinate-establishing processes for the building floor plan. Lastly, 2D and 3D visualized pressure mappings of each floor were generated, illustrating the pressure difference and spatial relationship between adjacent zones. It is expected that the pressure mappings derived from this study will allow building operators to intuitively perceive the pressure variations and the spatial layouts of the zones. These mappings also make it possible for operators to diagnose the differences in pressure conditions between adjacent zones and plan a control scheme for the HVAC system more efficiently.

The commonly used conversion coefficient for natural infiltration rates (N) is derived from single-zone or low-rise building assumptions and therefore fails to account for the substantial pressure differences driven by building height and seasonal temperature variations. These induced pressure differences significantly impact on the variations in infiltration rates within high-rise buildings, particularly during heating and cooling seasons. Therefore, this study develops a floor-resolved methodology for deriving N in high-rise buildings under various seasonal conditions, through extending the effective leakage area (ELA) model and incorporating normalization procedures that reflect seasonal and environmental conditions. Application of this method to high-rise buildings in South Korea shows that both infiltration rates and N values at upper and lower floors exceed those near the neutral pressure level (NPL) by more than a factor of two under winter conditions. Moreover, the derived N values deviate substantially from the commonly assumed reference value of 20 and vary systematically with floor height and season. These findings indicate that using a uniform N value can lead to considerable errors in estimating infiltration and associated energy loads, underscoring the necessity of height- and climate-specific conversion coefficients for accurate energy performance assessment.