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:
““Farewell to barn and stack and tree,
Farewell to Severn shore.
Terence, look your last at me,
For I come home no more.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“Nothing could his enemies do but it rebounded to his infinite advantage,—that is, to the advantage of his cause.... No theatrical manager could have arranged things so wisely to give effect to his behavior and words. And who, think you, was the manager? Who placed the slave-woman and her child, whom he stooped to kiss for a symbol, between his prison and the gallows?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)