CFD and ventilation research

There has been a rapid growth of scientific literature on the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in the research of ventilation and indoor air science. With a 1000-10,000 times increase in computer hardware capability in the past 20 years, CFD has become an integral part of scientific research and engineering development of complex air distribution and ventilation systems in buildings. This review discusses the major and specific challenges of CFD in terms of turbulence modelling, numerical approximation, and boundary conditions relevant to building ventilation. We emphasize the growing need for CFD verification and validation, suggest ongoing needs for analytical and experimental methods to support the numerical solutions, and discuss the growing capacity of CFD in opening up new research areas. We suggest that CFD has not become a replacement for experiment and theoretical analysis in ventilation research, rather it has become an increasingly important partner. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: We believe that an effective scientific approach for ventilation studies is still to combine experiments, theory, and CFD. We argue that CFD verification and validation are becoming more crucial than ever as more complex ventilation problems are solved. It is anticipated that ventilation problems at the city scale will be tackled by CFD in the next 10 years.     

Experimental study of water mist fire suppression in tunnels under longitudinal ventilation

This paper studies water mist fire suppression under different longitudinal ventilation velocities in tunnels by small-scale experiments. After a scaling study, two mist nozzles are used for suppressing crib fires under 5 ventilation speeds. The result comes out that fire suppression process can be divided into three stages including flame unitary restraining stage, surface flame extinguishing stage and inside flame suppression stage. Several factors influencing efficiency are investigated. When the interval between mist nozzle and fire source enlarges, the relationship curve between fire suppression time and ventilation velocity shows a ‘V’ figure. The best ventilation speed exists. Following the rules summarized, a coupling system of water mist and ventilation may increase fire suppression efficiency remarkably.     

A venturi-shaped roof for wind-induced natural ventilation of buildings: Wind tunnel and CFD evaluation of different design configurations

Wind tunnel experiments and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are used to analyse the flow conditions in a venturi-shaped roof, with focus on the underpressure in the narrowest roof section (contraction). This underpressure can be used to partly or completely drive the natural ventilation of the building zones. The wind tunnel experiments are performed in an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel at scale 1:100. The 3D CFD simulations are performed with steady RANS and the RNG k-? model. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to evaluate the accuracy of steady RANS and the RNG k-? model for this application and (2) to assess the magnitude of the underpressures generated with different design configurations of the venturi-shaped roof. The CFD simulations of mean wind speed and surface pressures inside the roof are generally in good agreement (10–20%) with the wind tunnel measurements. The study shows that for the configuration without guiding vanes, large negative pressure coefficients are obtained, down to −1.35, with reference to the free-stream wind speed at roof height. The comparison of design configurations with and without guiding vanes shows an – at least at first sight – counter-intuitive result: adding guiding vanes strongly decreases the absolute value of the underpressure. The reason is that the presence of the guiding vanes increases the flow resistance inside the roof and causes more wind to flow over and around the roof, and less wind through it (wind-blocking). As a result, the optimum configuration is the one without guiding vanes.     

公路隧道送排式通风计算方法及应用

通过流体力学的假设，并结合连续性方程、动量方程、伯努利方程，推导了隧道内风流的动量方程和能量方程．分析了压力计算模式和送排风量的关系，由此建立公路隧道送排式通风的基本理论。     

Mixing characterisation of full-scale membrane bioreactors: CFD modelling with experimental validation

Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) have been successfully used in aerobic biological wastewater treatment to solve the perennial problem of effective solids-liquid separation. The optimisation of MBRs requires knowledge of the membrane fouling, biokinetics and mixing. However, research has mainly concentrated on the fouling and biokinetics (Ng and Kim, 2007). Current methods of design for a desired flow regime within MBRs are largely based on assumptions (e.g. complete mixing of tanks) and empirical techniques (e.g. specific mixing energy). However, it is difficult to predict how sludge rheology and vessel design in full-scale installations affects hydrodynamics, hence overall performance. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) provides a method for prediction of how vessel features and mixing energy usage affect the hydrodynamics. In this study, a CFD model was developed which accounts for aeration, sludge rheology and geometry (i.e. bioreactor and membrane module). This MBR CFD model was then applied to two full-scale MBRs and was successfully validated against experimental results. The effect of sludge settling and rheology was found to have a minimal impact on the bulk mixing (i.e. the residence time distribution).     

Air flow and particle control with different ventilation systems in a classroom

Most ventilation and air conditioning systems are designed without much concern about how settling particles behave in ventilation air flows. For displacement ventilation systems, designers normally assume that all pollutants follow the buoyant air flow into an upper zone, where they are evacuated. This is, however, not always true. Previous studies show that high concentrations of settling respirable particles can be found in the breathing zone, and that the exposure rates can be a health hazard to occupants. The emphasis here is on how ventilation systems should be designed to minimize respirable airborne particles in the breathing zone. The supply and exhaust conditions of the ventilation air flow are shown to play an important role in the control of air quality. Computer simulation programs of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) type are used. Particle concentrations, thermal conditions and modified ventilation system solutions are reported.     

Calculation of wind-driven cross ventilation in buildings with large openings

A simplified macroscopic method is commonly used for wind-driven ventilation analysis of buildings with small openings. Consequently, it is reasonable to question if and under what conditions will this method provide accurate results in predicting ventilation flow rates in buildings with large openings. We investigate a single-zone cubic building with two equal large openings using a computational fluid dynamics approach. We analyzed the driving forces and the ventilation flow rates due to wind as a function of the geometry, size and relative location of the two openings. The ventilation flow rates are found to be affected by both wind flows around and through the building when the two openings are relatively large. The simplified macroscopic method can provide reasonable engineering accuracy (i.e., less than 10% error) when the porosity of the building envelope does not exceed a critical value. This critical value is not a constant; instead it depends significantly on the degree of alignment between the wind direction and the character of the dominant stream tube associated with the flow through the room. We found that the simplified macroscopic method fails to provide acceptable accuracy when this stream tube is truly dominant and parallel to the wind direction. The effects of wall thickness and aspect ratio of openings are also investigated.     

CFD analysis of ventilation effectiveness in a public transport interchange

A study was conducted into the ventilation effectiveness of a ventilation system within a public transport interchange (PTI) in Hong Kong. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD), steady state computational model of the PTI was used to investigate and predict the typical pollutant emission pattern for buses. In Hong Kong, the displacement ventilation (DV) scheme is often employed for the PTI. The numerical simulation investigates the effectiveness of the DV system in removing pollutants from the occupied zone. An alternative model is proposed where the supply is located at the ceiling and the exhausts are located at the lower part of the columns. It was found that both systems could adequately ventilate the PTI; however, the ceiling based air supply system is able to provide improved thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ).     

Low energy architecture for a severe US climate: Design and evaluation of a hybrid ventilation strategy

Natural ventilation, relying on openings in the façade, is applicable to a limited range of climates, sites and building types. Advanced naturally ventilated buildings, such as those using stacks to encourage buoyancy driven airflow, or hybrid buildings, which integrate both natural and mechanical systems, can extend the range of buildings and climate within which natural ventilation might be used.     

Numerical 3D simulation of a longitudinal ventilation system: Memorial Tunnel case

In this work, a numerical 3D simulation of a longitudinal ventilation system (LVS) is developed to analyze the fire behaviour inside a road tunnel. The numerical modelling reproduces the Memorial Tunnel, a two-lane, 853 m long road tunnel, used for experimental purposes. On this tunnel, 98 full-scale fire ventilation tests with different ventilation systems were conducted, constituting the first significant experimental approach to analyze fire incidents inside road tunnels. A total number of 24 reversible jet fans were installed in groups of three, nearly equally spaced over the length of the tunnel, and cantilevered from the ceiling of the tunnel.

The validation of a numerical model is developed in the present paper. For that purpose, the behaviour of the smoke generated during a fire incident inside a road tunnel is predicted and compared with previous experimental data collected in the Memorial Tunnel Project. The smoke evolution and the performance of the LVS is simulated with a commercial code, FLUENT, which allows 3D unsteady simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations for multispecies mixtures of gases. A sufficient mesh density was introduced for the spatial discretization in order to obtain accurate results in a reasonable CPU time. Hence, typical ratios between total number of cells and the overall tunnel length were employed in the modelling. As a result, good agreement was achieved in all the tested cases, defining an accurate methodology to predict the performance of a LVS in case of fire inside a tunnel.     

Auxiliary ventilation in mining roadways driven with roadheaders: Validated CFD modelling of dust behaviour

The production of dust when driving mining roadways can affect workers health. In addition, there is a decrease in productivity since Mine Safety regulations establish a reduction in the working time depending on the quartz content and dust concentration in the atmosphere.One of the gate roadways of the longwall named E4-S, belonging to the underground coal mine Carbonar SA located in Northern Spain, is being driven by an AM50 roadheader machine. The mined coal has a high coal dust content.This paper presents a study of dust behaviour in two auxiliary ventilation systems by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models, taking into account the influence of time. The accuracy of these CFD models was assessed by airflow velocity and respirable dust concentration measurements taken in six points of six roadway cross-sections of the mentioned operating coal mine.It is concluded that these models predicted the airflow and dust behaviour at the working face, where the dust source is located, and in different roadways cross-sections behind the working face.As a result, CFD models allow optimization of the auxiliary ventilation system used, avoiding the important deficiencies when it is calculated by conventional methods.     

Comparison of sensor systems designed using multizone,zonal, and CFD data for protection of indoor environments

Sensors that detect chemical and biological warfare agents can offer early warning of dangerous contaminants. However, current sensor system design is mostly by intuition and experience rather than by systematic design. To develop a sensor system design methodology, the proper selection of an indoor airflow model is needed. Various indoor airflow models exist in the literature, from complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simpler approaches such as multizone and zonal models. Airflow models provide the contaminant concentration data, to which an optimization method can be applied to design sensor systems. The authors utilized a subzonal modeling approach when using a multizone model and were the first to utilize a zonal model for systematic sensor system design. The objective of the study was to examine whether or not data from a simpler airflow model could be used to design sensor systems capable of performing just as well as those designed using data from more complex CFD models. Three test environments, a small office, a large hall, and an office suite were examined. Results showed that when a unique sensor system design was not needed, sensor systems designed using data from simpler airflow models could perform just as well as those designed using CFD data. Further, only for the small office did the common engineering sensor system design practice of placing a sensor at the exhaust result in sensor system performance that was equivalent to one designed using CFD data.     

Modeling deposition of particles in vertical square ventilation duct flows

The presence, flow, and distribution of particle in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) ducts influence the quality of air in buildings and hence the health of building occupants. To shed a better light on the flow of particles in HVAC ducts this a paper has considered the effects of drag, lift force, gravity, Brownian diffusion, and turbulent diffusion on the dimensionless deposition velocity of particles in smooth vertical ventilation ducts using fully developed and developing velocity profiles. Based on the Reynolds stress transport model (RSM) at two different air velocities, 3.0 m/s and 7.0 m/s, the aforementioned effects were predicted using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS)–Lagrangian simulation on square shaped ducts under vertical flows.     

Evaluating emergency ventilation strategies under different contaminant source locations and evacuation modes by efficiency factor of contaminant source (EFCS)

Emergency ventilation plays an important role in protecting occupants when a hazardous contaminant is released indoors. A number of studies have been conducted to better understand how to protect indoor occupants with effective ventilation strategies. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of the non-uniform and time-dependent distribution of occupants during evacuation. A new concept, Efficiency Factor of Contaminant Source (EFCS), has recently been proposed to evaluate the performance of emergency ventilation by comprehensively considering the spatial and temporal distributions of both the contaminant and occupants. This paper aims to: (1) propose and demonstrate a procedure for determining an optimal ventilation strategy by using EFCS; (2) examine the effects of source locations, ventilation modes, and evacuation modes on the performance of emergency ventilation. One hundred cases with ten ventilation modes, two evacuation modes, and five source locations were investigated numerically. The results show that the EFCS concept can provide a reasonable way to evaluate the performance of emergency ventilation. The threats of different source locations may vary over a large range, and certain measures should be taken to monitor and prevent the releases at high threat locations. A system equipped with multiple ventilation modes is necessary since no universal ventilation mode can successfully mitigate all hazardous situations. The effects of an evacuation mode may be more significant than that of a ventilation mode under certain situations.     

Myth of ecological architecture designs: Comparison between design concept and computational analysis results of natural-ventilation for Tjibaou Cultural Center in New Caledonia

The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, designed by Renzo Piano, a world renown Italian architect and a recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, was described as a piece of “Ecological Architecture” in New Caledonia. This building is recognized by its sustainable ventilation design concept that implements the unique ten shell-like structures for aeration enhancement. This paper presents an approach using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based simulations to compare the numerical predictions with the original architectural insight for a verification of the architect's thinking in his realization of the design purpose. In the analysis, we consider the incompressible isothermal turbulent airflow to examine the interaction of the flow with the building for a better understanding of the wind-driven self-sustaining ventilation mechanism. We also propose a modified model via enlarging the aeration opening with the least blockages along the wind pathway. The simulated results indicate that the improved design substantially enhances the air-intake effectiveness and realizes a satisfactory pressure balance for the Tjibaou Cultural Center.     

Performance evaluation of the coupling of a desktop personalized ventilation air terminal device and desk mounted fans

The performance of a coupled system of the Desktop Personalized Ventilation Air Terminal Device (DPV ATD) and desk mounted fans (DMF) was examined in a field environmental chamber. Cooling effect was evaluated using manikin-based equivalent temperature (Teq,), of each of the 26 body segments of a breathing thermal manikin (BTM) and personal exposure effectiveness (PEE) was used as an indicator for effectiveness of ventilation. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to examine the velocity field generated around BTM to provide better understanding of the relationship between air patterns generated and convective cooling effect on each of the body segments produced by DPV ATD coupled with DMF. Four different positions of DPV ATD were examined: two positions each in front and on the side of the BTM. Measurements were conducted at ambient temperature of 26 °C and PV air temperature of 23 °C at a flow rate of 10 L/s. The results indicate that coupling of DPV ATD and DMF distributes cooling more uniformly across BTM surfaces and therefore has the potential to reduce risk of draft discomfort as compared to usage of DPV ATD alone. Personalized exposure effectiveness was increased in 3 of the positions examined when the coupled system was used.     

A study on a porous residential building model in hot and humid regions: Part 1—the natural ventilation performance and the cooling load reduction effect of the building model

This study targets environmental load reduction in hot and humid regions. It reveals the effects that porous residential buildings have on the natural ventilation performance and, consequently, the cooling load reduction. Two residential building models, namely a model with a void ratio of 0% and a model with a void ratio of 50%, are evaluated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and thermal and airflow network analysis. The analysis on components of the heat load indicates that improvements in the natural ventilation performance would significantly reduce the cooling load.     

Studies on buoyancy driven two-directional smoke flow layering length with combination of point extraction and longitudinal ventilation in tunnel fires

This paper investigates the buoyancy-driven smoke flow layering length (both upstream and downstream) beneath the ceiling with combination of point extraction and longitudinal ventilation in tunnel fires. A theoretical model is developed based on previous back-laying model with only longitudinal ventilation, with modified actual heat release rate, as well as modified upstream and downstream opposing longitudinal air flow velocities by the induced flow velocity due to point extraction. Experiments are carried out in a reduced scale model tunnel with dimensionless of 72 m×1.5 m×1.3 m. A LPG porous gas burner is used as fire source. The smoke flow layering length both upstream and downstream are identified based on temperature profiles measured along the ceiling, for different experiment conditions. CFD simulations with FDS are also performed for the same scenarios. Results show that with combination of point extraction and longitudinal ventilation, the smoke flow layering length is not symmetric where it is longer downstream than that upstream. The upstream smoke layering length decreases, while the downstream layering length increases with increase in longitudinal ventilation velocity; and they both decrease with increase in point extraction velocity. The predictions by the proposed theoretical model agree well with the measurements and simulation results.     

Modelling of cowl performance in building simulation tools using experimental data and computational fluid dynamics

Exhaust cowls are used in conjunction with hybrid ventilation systems to efficiently convert wind energy into negative pressure and thus minimize the electrical energy required by the extract fan. Yet the fact that cowl performance is largely dictated by operating conditions imposes particularly stringent demands on modelling. This paper demonstrates, by way of a concrete example, the need for and potential benefits of a new methodological approach to the modelling of cowls. The study focuses on a specific modelling strategy, applied within a building simulation program, for a cowl used in a hybrid ventilation system. The method is progressively simplified to produce four variants, which chiefly vary according to their level of detail and, hence, the associated modelling effort. Wind pressure coefficients at facade, above roof and in the cowl are needed for all model variants. Some of the investigated variants rely on CFD computations of airflow around the building to determine these values. This study uses the example of a single-family house (SFH) to identify those criteria requiring particular attention in the performance of CFD numerical flow analyses. All four variants are examined on the basis of this example to determine which simplifications to the model are appropriate and permissible without unduly compromising the accuracy of the results.