建筑物外墙的功能之一是将室外元素与室内环境分开。建筑围护结构通常不是完全气密的，它们允许空气通过墙体结构的接缝和裂缝进出。这种空气泄漏会造成热负荷和冷负荷，在建筑物的任何能量分析和暖通空调系统的设计中都必须考虑到这一点。渗透速率主要取决于外墙的空气泄漏特性，在较小程度上取决于内部分隔的空气泄漏特性，如地板结构、内部分区和各种服务井。由于缺乏关于外墙实际漏风特性的信息，目前无法对多层建筑的渗透速率进行可靠预测。 加拿大国家研究委员会（National Research Council of Canada）对位于加拿大渥太华的八栋多层办公楼的外墙进行了空气泄漏特性测量。它们的高度从11层到22层不等，有幕墙结构和固定玻璃窗，建于60年代和70年代初。本文报告了测量结果。开发了一种计算烟囱作用引起的渗透率的方法，并利用实测的壁面泄漏值进行了热损失计算。引文:德克萨斯州达拉斯阿什雷交易录第82卷第一部分

One of the functions of the exterior walls of buildings is to separate outdoor elements from the inside environment. Building envelopes are not normally completely air tight and they permitsome flow of air into and out of them through joints and cracks in the wall fabric. This leakageof air contributes to heating and cooling loads and must be taken into account in any energyanalysis of buildings and design of HVAC systems.Infiltration rates depend primarily on the air leakage characteristics of exterior walls andto a lesser extent on those of interior separations such as floor construction, interior partitionsand various service shafts. A reliable prediction of the infiltration rates of multistoreybuildings is hampered at present, by the scarcity of information on the actual air leakagecharacteristics of exterior walls.The National Research Council of Canada has taken measurements of the air leakage characteristicsof the exterior walls of eight multi-storey office buildings located in Ottawa, Canada.Varying in height from 11 to 22 stories, with curtain wall construction and fixed glazing, theywere built during the sixties and early seventies. The results of the measurements are reportedin this paper. A method for calculating infiltration rates caused by stack action has beendeveloped and is applied to heat loss calculations using the measured wall leakage values.