A Comparison of the Power Law to Quadratic Formulations for Air Infiltration Calculations

Although the power law has been broadly accepted in measurement and air infiltration standards, and in many air infiltration calculation methods, the assumption that the power law is true over the range of pressures that a building envelope experiences has not been well documented. In this paper, we examine the validity of the power law through theoretical analysis, laboratory measurements of crack flow and detailed field tests of building envelopes. The results of the theoretical considerations, and field and laboratory measurements indicate that the power law is valid for low pressure building envelope leakage.