HVAC & building design

Common problems

• Uneven heating and cooling — on the same floor one area is too cold while another stays hot; adjusting the units does not help because the cause lies in the air distribution
• Condenser units in the wrong place — the hot air they reject is drawn straight back in, cutting efficiency and overloading the equipment
• Heat build-up in workshops — natural ventilation is not enough and the working area exceeds the temperature limit
• Poor air quality — CO₂ accumulating where people are dense, even though the supply flow rate meets the standard
• Car park smoke — the extraction system fails to clear the smoke under the assumed fire scenario

Why simulation is needed

Design standards tell you how much air to supply, but not where that air goes once it leaves the diffuser. Two designs with identical flow rates can perform very differently.

Fixing a ventilation system after the building is finished costs many times more than simulation; the value of virtual testing is most evident in this field.

Simulation methods

• Forced and natural convection, combined where required
• Solar radiation through glazing and the building envelope
• PMV/PPD thermal comfort indices from the Fanger model
• Pollutant and CO₂ transport, air age
• Smoke and visibility models for fire scenarios

What you receive

• Temperature, velocity and comfort maps in the occupied zone
• A quantitative comparison of diffuser, fan and condenser unit layouts
• Compliance assessment against the design limits for each area
• Images and video for presenting to the project owner