Abstract
The purpose of this research is to analyze the characteristics of flow rate distribution in hot-water piping networks in the apartment building. A 14-story apartment house was selected as a sample building and analyzed numerically by Hardy-Cross method. Two different piping networks, one has three vertical zones and the other of a single zone with automatic balancing valves, were compared. Some of research results are as follows; As the temperature of supply hot-water increases, the flow rate of it does by buoyancy effect, but this effect is not found in the piping network with automatic balancing valves. Non-uniformity in hot-water flow distributions to all stories in the piping system of single vertical zone can be completely reformed by the installation of either manually operated or automatic balancing valves in every story.
