Stack effect is the movement of air into and out of buildings, chimneys, flue gas stacks, or other containers, and is driven by buoyancy. Buoyancy occurs due to a difference in indoor-to-outdoor air density resulting from temperature and moisture differences. The result is either a positive or negative buoyancy force. The greater the thermal difference and the height of the structure, the greater the buoyancy force, and thus the stack effect. The stack effect is also referred to as the "chimney effect", and it helps drive natural ventilation, infiltration and fires. (see Kaprun disaster and King's Cross fire)
Read more about Stack Effect: Stack Effect in Buildings, Stack Effect in Flue Gas Stacks and Chimneys, The Driving Force For The Stack Effect, The Flow Induced By The Stack Effect
Famous quotes containing the words stack and/or effect:
“What is a farm but a mute gospel? The chaff and the wheat, weeds and plants, blight, rain, insects, sun—it is a sacred emblem from the first furrow of spring to the last stack which the snow of winter overtakes in the fields.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Where there is not discernment, the behavior even of the purest soul may in effect amount to coarseness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)