Cross-Ventilation Flow Behavior in Indoor Environments: Experimental Tracer-Based Visualization and CFD Comparison

In recent years, the architectural design process has experienced significant advance-ments due to computational design, which has enabled the real-time exploration of design alternatives based on parametric modeling. In this context, gaining a deeper understanding of how natural ventilation operates within buildings can support deci-sion-making, potentially reducing the need for wind tunnel tests and computational simulations. This paper presents an effort to determine the flow patterns of natural ventilation in indoor environments under specific conditions, using an experimental setup comprising five configurations analyzed comparatively against a control sample. An idealized and simple flow visualization technique was proposed to assist the anal-ysis. By following scientific methodologies and employing both computational and wind tunnel techniques in a complementary manner, satisfactory inferences were ob-tained. The results indicate that the diagonal positioning of openings substantially ac-celerates wind speed in indoor environments, making this design strategy more effec-tive than simply adding additional openings when the goal is to increase air speed and indoor air renewal.