Indoor Airflow Distribution in Repository Design: Experimental and Numerical Microclimate Analysis of an Archive

The majority of cultural heritage is stored in archives, libraries and museum storage spaces. To reduce degradation risks, many archives adopt the use archival boxes, among other means, to provide necessary climate control comply with strict legislation requirements regarding temperature relative air humidity. A ambient indoor assumed adequate environmental conditions near objects. Guidelines for parameters, but often do not consider factors that influence near-object environment, such as airflow distribution rack placement. This study aimed more insight into relation between repositories hygrothermal surrounding collection. Comprehensive measurements were performed a case archive collect ambient, local conditions. Both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling used research temperature/relative humidity gradients changing orientation, strategy supply well exhaust set-up repository. following conclusions are presented: (i) supplying from one handling unit multiple on different floors leads small differences them. Differences climates noticed; (ii) boxes mute delay variations expected—however, thermal radiation building envelope may have large box; (iii) adopting night reduction energy conservation results an increased external climate, insulation, this effect should be mitigated; (iv) specific locations extraction resulted vertical gradient insufficient mixing air, ventilation strategies enhance sufficient combination insulation walls, forming reduced.