Wall-mounted solar chimneys use solar radiation to heat the air inside the chimney cavity and use thermal pressure to create natural convection. Applying this principle allows for the indoor ventilation of a building without energy consumption. However, in wall-mounted solar chimney designs, different air inlet and outlet design dimensions can have varying degrees of impact on the effectiveness of wall-mounted solar chimney ventilation. In order to analyze the internal airflow state and airflow temperature field distribution of wall-mounted solar chimneys, physical models of wall-mounted solar chimneys with six different air outlet-to-inlet cross-sectional area ratios were developed in this research work. Before numerical simulation analysis, heat transfer analysis of the wall-mounted solar chimney’s structural components and airflow channels was carried out, and corresponding mathematical heat transfer models were established. The internal flow state and temperature distribution characteristics of a wall-mounted solar chimney were analyzed by steady-state simulations using the computational fluid dynamics software, Ansys Fluent. Finally, transient simulation calculation analysis was conducted under six different S-value models to investigate the variation in the natural ventilation of a single-story building’s wall-mounted solar chimney for a whole day. The study showed that under the same simulation conditions, 80% ≤ S < 100% effectively avoided the formation of vortices in the internal airflow of the wall-mounted solar chimneys and kept the ventilation effect of wall-mounted solar chimneys at a high level. The results of this study provide a reference for the optimization of research on the design of the air inlet and outlet structures of wall-mounted solar chimneys for single-story buildings.

As a type of passive architectural structure, wall-mounted solar chimneys enhance the natural ventilation volume of a building’s interior, and maximize reductions in the building’s operational energy consumption. They are indispensable in the building’s energy conservation and emission reduction. Therefore, measuring the wall-mounted solar chimney’s flow characteristics and relevant index parameters is particularly important. This paper uses a combination of full-scale experiments and numerical simulation to conduct a detailed analysis of the wall-mounted solar chimney. Four different radiation models, namely DO (discrete ordinates), S2S (surface-to-surface), MC (Monte Carlo), and Rosseland are used for comparison, and the results of the numerical simulation are compared with the experimental data. The results show that the maximum turbulent viscosity of the fluid predicted by the S2S radiation model is higher than that of the MC and DO models by 16.87% and 8.44%, respectively. The errors of the DO radiation model in the midline and glass cover plate direction concerning the experimental results are only 0.33% and 0.15%, respectively. The mistakes of the MC radiation model in these two directions are 0.51% and 0.47%, respectively. The DO radiation model is more suitable in numerical simulation predictions related to the wall-mounted solar chimney.

Global energy resources are becoming increasingly scarce, and environmental problems are becoming more serious. The construction industry significantly contributes to energy consumption, and building energy efficiency has become a global concern. A critical aspect of building energy efficiency is exterior shading, which controls sunlight exposure and heat input to the interior. By effectively reducing indoor temperature and light intensity, exterior shading provides a more comfortable learning and working environment. In particular, west-facing exterior shading is essential for building shading and heat protection. This study aims to analyze school office buildings’ light and thermal comfort performance in various climatic zones. These buildings are equipped with west-facing external shading. Numerical analyses were performed using Ladybug Tools 1.6.0 software to evaluate the light and thermal comfort performance of the building. The primary objective of this study is to enhance the light performance and thermal comfort within buildings facing west. The main focus of this research is to examine the effectiveness of four different shading devices in improving light performance and thermal comfort in school office buildings located in severe cold (SC) and cold (C) regions. By studying these specific buildings, valuable insights and recommendations can be provided for selecting suitable shading devices for typical urban buildings in similar regions. The study results demonstrate that in typical cities in SC and C regions, light and thermal comfort are significantly improved with appropriate shading devices by a factor of about 1.5 to 2.5 compared to the no-shading condition (NSC). Beijing shows the most significant improvement among the cities studied, with energy efficiency and comfort improved to 2.6 times that of NSC. At the same time, Urumqi has a relatively lower effect, with an improvement of 1.59 times that of NSC. This study provides an essential reference for selecting suitable west-facing shading devices in typical cities in SC and C regions. It is expected that this will contribute to the construction industry’s efforts to achieve more significant results in energy conservation, emission reduction, and green buildings, ultimately helping to address the energy crisis and environmental pollution problems.

Single-side natural ventilation is a commonly used means of ventilation to effectively regulate the thermal environment in building interiors without any fossil energy consumption. To achieve most of the potential for the efficiency of single-side natural ventilation, research needs to be undertaken into the forces that drive single-side natural ventilation. This paper examines the single-side natural ventilation of a single vertical single opening (SSO) and a vertical double opening (SDO) in a freestanding building under wind and thermal pressure. The change in the trajectory of vortex shedding when the building is leeward as well as the frequency of vortex shedding in square buildings was investigated by large eddy simulation (LES), and computational fluid dynamics was used to analyze the difference in the air exchange rate of single-side natural ventilation of SSO and SDO in the windward and leeward conditions of the building. Both of these methods were used in conjunction with one another. According to the findings, the creation of vortices at SSO and SDO in the presence of low wind speeds reduces the ventilation effect of thermal pressure under windward circumstances. Consequently, the influence of thermal stress and wind stress ultimately cancel each other out, and this phenomenon finally disappears as the wind blowing from the outside of the structure increases. The shedding of vortices in the leeward state accomplishes a form of air supply pumping with a particular periodicity of airflow fluctuations in the lateral direction. The Strouhal number computed using the LES simulation acts in a manner consistent with the experimental findings.