A COMPARISON OF THE POWER-LAW TO QUADRATIC FORMULATIONS FOR AIR INFILTRATION CALCULATIONS

Although the power law has been broadly accepted in measurement and ai r infiltration standards, and in many air infiltration calculation met hods, assumption that the power law is true over the range of pressure s that a building envelope experiences has not been well documented. I n this paper, we examine the validity of the power law through theoret ical analysis, laboratory measurements of crack flow and detailed held tests of building envelopes. The results of the theoretical considera tions and held and laboratory measurements indicate that the power law is valid for low pressure building envelope leakage. (C) Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.