Ventilation benefit assessment of space organization design for 'L' type inner corridor buildings

The insufficiency of fresh air throughout deep inner corridor plans has long been highlighted, while the introduction of combined spaces can often result in obvious benefits of natural ventilation. Considering the abundant inner corridor buildings in northern China and the emerging context of global warming, it is therefore important to understand the hidden correlation between space combinations and ventilation performance in inner corridor buildings. Through this study, baseline prototype of L-shape inner corridor together with its representative optimization prototypes of combined space design (multi-bay, through penetrating and duplex) were modelled and examined based on case studies and literature reviews. Employing the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool, and key evaluation indicators of air velocity and age of air, this work investigated the benefit potentials of natural ventilation through space organization measures among inner corridor buildings from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, respectively. As a result, ventilation enhancement effects have been validated for three combined spaces, with the through penetrating space achieving 15% more the compliance rate of AGE than the multi-bay space. In particular, the duplex space is preferred, not only it shows the best ventilation improvement at the corner, but also it can effectively improve uneven ventilation conditions within and between layers by redistributing air flow (the average wind speed on the leeward side of the inner corridor space can be increased by up to 0.12 m/s). •CFD simulations validating the organization space impact on inner corridor ventilation performed.•The through penetrating space achieving 15% more the compliance rate of AGE than the multi-bay space.•Further benefiting abilities of duplex space coupled through space types conducted.•The duplex space enhances the natural ventilation benefits of the space and reduces airflow distribution gaps.•Optimization strategies for adequate natural ventilation of the combined spaces proposed.