Micro-Draft Micro-Stratification in High-Bay Spaces

High-bay spaces - warehouses, distribution centers, aircraft hangars, gymnasiums, and data hall shells with clear heights of 24 ft (7.3 m) or more - behave thermally as tall, weakly mixed air columns. Two distinct but interacting phenomena govern the discomfort and energy waste reported in these spaces: bulk thermal stratification, a large-scale buoyancy-driven layering of the entire air volume, and micro-draft micro-stratification, a localized, small-scale layering that forms in the near-floor and near-envelope boundary regions even when the bulk air column appears reasonably mixed. Understanding both, and how they compound one another, is the basis for correct diagnosis.

High-bay spaces - warehouses, distribution centers, aircraft hangars, gymnasiums, and data hall shells with clear heights of 24 ft (7.3 m) or more - behave thermally as tall, weakly mixed air columns. Two distinct but interacting phenomena govern the discomfort and energy waste reported in these spaces: bulk thermal stratification, a large-scale buoyancy-driven layering of the entire air volume, and micro-draft micro-stratification, a localized, small-scale layering that forms in the near-floor and near-envelope boundary regions even when the bulk air column appears reasonably mixed. Understanding both, and how they compound one another, is the basis for correct diagnosis.