Modeling stratified zones

["Fred Porter" <fporter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear TRNSYS and COMIS users;
We are trying to decide on an approach to modeling coupled air and
heat transfer in a large conservatory. This glass house will be 60
feet tall and 100 feet wide, with trees and added humidity, inside,
and natural ventilation via side and ridge vent openings. We need to
predict indoor conditions with varying apertures, and at a variety of
heights inside the building. The design includes some kind of "forest
canopy" catwalks, so merely predicting conditions at ground level is
not adequate.

We have used COMIS for simple naturally-ventilated small buildings,
and used TRNSYS with forced inter-zone airflows. I've examined the
documentation for TRNSYS BID, and the COMIS/TRNSYS type. My initial
conclusion is that we could create multiple, coupled zones
representing different levels in the building, and probably be able to
divide the radiant gains with some confidence, but I'm not sure how
well the air temperatures and flows would really be predicted.

Do any of you have an opinion about whether this could be done with
reasonable accuracy, either with TRNSYS/COMIS, or some other tool(s)?
My other inclination is to determine radiant fluxes separately, then
use CFD for the airflows.

Thanks;

--
Fred W. Porter
Senior Engineer
Architectural Energy Corp.
2540 Frontier Ave. Suite 201
Boulder CO 80301
email: fporter@archenergy.com
fax: 303-444-4304

office: 303-444-4149 x225