A residential block consists of two buildings connected via an Atrium is common nowadays because they could provide attractive, environment controlled and naturally lit spaces. The purpose of the current study is to undertake a performance based assessment of the proposed ventilation strategy and justify the performance through the use of computation fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. The three dimensional study utilized two available CFD packages: CFD ACE + for natural ventilation simulations and Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) for fire simulations. Four different louver opening areas were examined to see their effect on air speed and temperature of air within the Atrium. Another five scenarios were examined with the existence of fire within the Atrium. Results showed that the natural ventilation solution is dependent on ambient conditions outside the Atrium. Therefore, operable louvres are recommended to be fully closed under extreme weathers and to have it fully opened at an outdoor temperature of 19 °C–27 °C. In the case of a fire being ignited within the Atrium, it is found that the location of the fire has a significant impact on the air quality within the Atrium. It is found that when the fire is located in the open void area to the east of the Atrium, a simple ventilating strategy is capable of providing the required ventilating capacity to maintain the Atrium safe for evacuating the occupants. When the fire is located at the lifts and stairs area, however, the ventilation strategy requires a more sensitive approach. It is found that the natural ventilation approach failed in extracting the smoke out of the Atrium (Lifts lobby) unlike when the fire was located in the void area. However, the air temperature within the Atrium is found to meet the design requirements of lower than 60 °C.

如今，一个住宅楼由两座通过中庭相连的建筑物组成，因为它们可以提供引人入胜，环境可控且自然采光的空间。本研究的目的是对提议的通风策略进行基于性能的评估，并通过使用计算流体力学（CFD）方法证明性能合理。这项三维研究利用了两个可用的CFD软件包：用于自然通风模拟的CFD ACE +和用于火模拟的Fire Dynamic Simulator（FDS）。检查了四个不同的百叶窗开口区域，以了解它们对中庭内空气速度和温度的影响。检查了中庭内是否存在着火的另外五种情况。结果表明，自然通风解决方案取决于中庭外部的环境条件。因此，建议可操作的百叶窗在极端天气下完全关闭，并在19°C–27°C的室外温度下完全打开。发现在中庭内发生火灾的情况下，发现火灾的位置对中庭内的空气质量有重大影响。已经发现，当火位于中庭以东的空旷区域时，一种简单的通风策略便能够提供所需的通风能力，以保持中庭安全地撤离乘员。但是，当火灾位于升降机和楼梯区域时，通风策略需要更敏感的方法。结果发现，自然通风方式无法将烟雾从中庭（电梯大厅）中抽出，这与大火位于空旷区域的情况不同。但是，发现中庭内的空气温度符合低于60°C的设计要求。