Natural ventilation enhanced by buoyancy force of an indoor courtyard space was examined. A high-rise residential building located at subtropical Taiwan was studied in terms of cooling efficiency. CFD software PHOENICS/FLAIR was employed to investigate the effects of design factors as well as environmental factors that were tested in sequence. The buoyancy force was mainly induced by the heat generated inside individual apartment units. Significant, non-linear grdient of air temperature and velocity is particularly high near the top of courtyard. The flow flux is generally large enough to remove heat from the occupied spaces. The air can be effectively evacuated through the top of the courtyard when the wind velocity is roughly smaller than 1.0 m/s. Stack ventilation is weakened by the opening on the ground floor yet can be strengthened by the bottom openings on the windward side and top opening on the leeward side that yields 38 % more velocity at the top of the courtyard than the worse case.
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