This study investigates the effects of balcony sliding-door arrangements and balcony window-opening configurations on natural ventilation performance in residential apartments using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations with FLUENT. Two representative apartment layouts, a two-bedroom unit and a three-bedroom unit, were modeled, and varying internal sliding door configurations, balcony window-opening arrangements, and wind directions developed fourteen scenarios. Field measurements of indoor air velocity were used to validate the numerical model. The results show that in the three-bedroom layout, the internal sliding door between the balcony and the living-dining area restricted airflow into the main shared space. Removing this internal sliding door and adopting operable balcony windows on both sides reduced the mean air age in the living area and improved airflow distribution. In contrast, in the two-bedroom layout, where the balcony was connected mainly to a bedroom, removing the balcony–bedroom sliding door did not consistently improve overall ventilation. Retaining the sliding door while optimizing the side-window openings on the balcony offered a more balanced approach. The findings suggest that balcony spaces should be treated as active components of residential ventilation, and the study provides design insights to improve natural ventilation.
Li et al. (Sat,) studied this question.