A study on the stack effect of a super high-rise residential building in a severe cold region in China

A recent trend in China has seen super high-rise residential buildings spreading to severe cold regions. These buildings face tough challenges concerning building energy consumption and the thermal environment due to their stack effect. The stack effect is greatly influenced by air infiltration, but current guidance on component airtightness is often neither specific nor consistent for different buildings. This paper presents field measurements and numerical simulations of airtightness performance and stack pressure distribution for a a 106.7-m high-rise residential building in Harbin, Northeast China. An airtightness field test was performed using the fan pressurisation method, and measured values were utilised as the input data for predictions. The numerical analysis was implemented by applying CONTAMW, and the simulation results were compared to measurement data. The results demonstrated that the measured components were all leakier than the current standards allow. The greatest stack pressure difference on the ground floor reached 51.5 Pa, considered a severe stack effect. Furthermore, the influences of the location and airtightness of different staircase doorways on the stack effect were studied and analysed. This research assists in clarifying the significance of building airtightness in cold climates and in reducing the stack effect of high-rise buildings.