Heritage Building Air Diffusion Performance Index: HVAC Diffuser Layout Evaluation for Heritage Building Preservation

JIAYING ZHANG, Helen H.L. Kwok, Jack C.P. Cheng

Abstract:

As poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) causes adverse effects on building conditions of heritage buildings, ventilation systems need to
maintain satisfactory IAQ for heritage building preservation. In indoor spaces, commercial historic buildings that have been
regenerated are generally fitted with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. HVAC was optimized by previous
studies to improve IAQ for human comfort. However, there is a lack of research that investigates the influence of HVAC diffuser
layouts on IAQ features and quantitatively evaluates the performance for preserving heritage building indoor components by suitable
index. This research proposed a methodology for HVAC diffuser layout enhancement by quantifying its performance to maintain
satisfactory IAQ for heritage building preservation using Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM). Heritage Building Air
Diffusion Performance Index (HBADPI) was developed to evaluate the HVAC diffuser layout performance by calculating the
satisfactory IAQ percentage for the preservation of heritage building indoor components. The proposed methodology was illustrated
by the practical case FWD HOUSE 1881. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) scenario studies of diffuser arrangement cases were
quantitatively evaluated using HBADPI. The optimal layout improved multiple IAQ satisfaction by 14.68%, which helps preserve
heritage building indoor components.