Investigating inlet height effect on natural ventilation efficiency in vernacular house solar chimneys

Natural ventilation has long been acknowledged as a viable method for regulating indoor temperatures. the use of solar chimneys (scs), a passive architectural feature in modern building design, has been shown to significantly reduce energy consumption. however, there are differences in the design of natural ventilation devices between traditional and contemporary approaches, particularly in terms of inlet location. while conventional scs have their inlets at ceiling level, modern scs have them at floor level. this study aims to investigate the impact of inlet location on sc performance in airflow, in order to enhance the efficiency of passive natural ventilation. on june 15, 2022, at 15:00 (the warmest time of the day), simulations were performed using the ansys fluent software on a hypothetical three-story building to investigate the impact of inlet location on sc performance in airflow and enhance the efficiency of passive natural ventilation. two possible inlet locations, ceiling and floor level, were considered. the results showed that the floor level inlet had a stable airflow with an average airspeed of 0.11 m/s, while the airflow at the ceiling-level inlet fluctuated with an average airspeed of 0.15 m/s. these findings suggest that conventional beliefs about sc efficiency may not be accurate, and that ceiling-level inlets may be more suitable for achieving sc efficiency in line with iranian traditional architecture.