Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of HVAC System in Auditorium
Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of HVAC System in Auditorium
Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of HVAC System in Auditorium
International Journal of Advanced Research and Development
Abstract
Computer simulation played a key role in the optimization of a displacement ventilation system in auditorium by helping to
reconfigure the locations of the diffusers and the exhausts in order to eliminate unnecessary air flow. Displacement ventilation
systems, which locate the air supply on the floor instead of the ceiling, are gaining popularity in North America because they are
more efficient and require less energy to maintain a given level of comfort. However, displacement ventilation systems are
generally more difficult to design due to several inherent issues like the need to avoid temperature gradients and drafts with the air
supply located near the people. In a recent application, these challenges were addressed by simulating a school auditorium using
the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique to evaluate airflow velocity, pressure, and temperature. The simulation showed
the existence of a flow pattern that had both hot, cold spots as well as a stagnant area in the auditorium. The diagnostic information
provided by the simulation results made it easy to improve the flow pattern by changing the location of some of the diffusers and
exhausts.
ceiling. This stratification is one of the greatest advantages of units and six existing spill air/smoke exhaust fans. The system
thermal displacement ventilation systems over conventional layouts make use of the symmetry about the building axis line,
mixing type ventilation systems. Cool and clean air is where with each being essentially the mirror of the other. The
people need to breathe it and hot, dirty air is at the ceiling existing supply scheme utilizes 14°C supply air delivered by
being exhausted. In addition to the fact that the displacement overhead diffusers, with supplemented by sidewall supply
ventilation approach improves indoor air quality in the lower diffusers. The stage is cooled via supply to the wings, and by
level by separating contaminated air from clean air through the high-level grilles (above the boxes). Return air to the air-
stratification, many investigators have noted the advantages of handling units is primarily via sidewall grilles on the stall,
displacement ventilation in lower energy costs. Location of circle and balcony levels, supplemented by ceiling return
heat source is higher; heat gain from a heat source to the lower above the stage, through the side walls and under floor return
level decreases significantly, which results in a reduction of grilles in the lower stalls. The existing system that serves the
the cooling load in the lower region. auditorium comprises six receiving air handling units and six
existing spill air/smoke exhaust fans Spill air is exhausted by
3. System Outline the smoke exhaust fans withal majority of the air drawn from
The auditorium is generally divided into the following major ceiling level above the stage supplemented by a mid-level wall
spaces; circle, stage, wings, windows and boxes. grille. This arrangement can be seen below in Figure1 &2
to an under floor displacement system, with the supply air order to reduce the model development and calculation time
temperature of this portion of the system raised to 18°C. The for this complex simulation, it’s essential to make
stage cooling is via high-level jet diffusers grilles (above the simplifications to allow convergence of the simulation within
boxes), replacing the wall grilles, with the supply component a finite time. Further, as Phonics makes use of a structured
via the wings reduced. The sidewall return via grilles in the grid angled and curved geometry can result in increased
passengers and corner levels remains as per existing, with are convergence times if not properly considered. The following
balance in the stall areas. The under floor return is replaced by table contains a list of simplifications, and comments on the
the displacement supply system mentioned earlier, with the justification.
ceiling supply diffusers above the front stalls altered to act as
return. Additional ceiling return is added above the side corner Grid Generation
to supplement exhaust from the auditorium. This can be seen The grid spacing implemented in the model was 167x140x92,
in Figure 3&4 below or 2,150,960 cells. This resulted in ineffective resolution of
approximately 0.25-0.3m.Note that the grid was able to
expand where little detail was required (generally only in the z
direction above the corner zone), such that resolution in
matched the nominal unit size unoccupied areas. Generally,
this is a coarse grid given the distribution of supply, exhaust
and loads through the space. However, increases in resolution
were not feasible due to the limitations of 32-bit computing;
sensitivity analysis was undertaken of test spaces representing
half model. This analysis was undertaken to determine the
impact of the course grid. It involve creating a small model of a
Diffuser with two separate grids, one a course grid and the
other a fine grid. The difference between the two models was
compared in this sensitivity analysis and no significant
difference was observed.
Obstructions
Obstructions, such as walls, ceilings and rows were considered
to have sufficient thermal mass to be insensitive to local
conditions in minor time scales, thus they were given a fixed
surface temperature due to thermal history (pre-performance
conditioning).
Ventilation System
Fig 4: Proposed (Grid) HVAC system using CATIA Cooling mode operation under full occupancy was chosen for
this analysis. Perfect commissioning is assumed when
Simulation Parameters assigning flow rates to HVACelements, in that nominal flow
Software values are achieved Note that in comparison to heating mode
The CFD software package Phonics was used in this and isothermal cases, it has been found that turbulence models
assessment. Phonics provides a full capability for grid are generally poor predictors of ventilation flow in cooling
generation, solution and post-processing via 3-D or text input. mode (Feinberg, G et al 2005), with
Phonics has been validated under a number of applications, the standard k-ε turbulence model provides adequate
including in building environmental simulation (Gaspar, PD et performance (Cao, G 2007) and was thusadopted for this
al. 2003). The Flair module of Phonics is dedicated to CFD simulation.
airflow visualization and analysis applications within the built
environment and provides the following capabilities; steady Diffusers
state and transient CFD analysis, turbulence models (including Given the coarseness of the grid, a simple diffuser type was
the k-remodel), buoyancy models, conjugate heat-transfers, a used based on a grille/nozzle model. The actual diffuser type
library of materials based on CIBSE reference data and a was simulated by selecting face velocity, aspect and angle to
range of HVAC-related objects, including diffusers and fans. appropriate values depending on whether the diffuser was a
Computational fluid dynamics is a time intensive process. In ceiling mounted register, linear slot, under floor or wall
70
International Journal of Advanced Research and Development
register. It is not expected that proper diffusion will be Pressure Plot Elevation View
achieved throughout the model, but both models will be
subject toothsome limitation and thus are comparable.
Return air
The return air outlets were represented in the model by square
face fans, which function by extracting air from the model at
points. The volume of air for a particular fan was determined
by the chosen face velocity.
71
International Journal of Advanced Research and Development
References
1. ASHRAE Standard Energy standard and indoor air
quality standard for human occupancy, 2000.
2. Anthony Scanlon. Anthony Calderone Cfd benchmarking:
hamer hall auditorium case study 12th Conference of
International Building Performance Simulation
Association, 2008, 44.
Elevation View showing Proposed Conditions. 3. Aydin Ozerdem B. Air leakage measurement and analysis
in duct systems. Energy and Buildings, 2006, 207-213.
Velocity Plot Elevation View 4. Sharma GS, Sharma B. Duct designing in air conditioning
system and its impact on system performance. VSRD
International Journal of Mechanical, Automobile and
Production Engineering. 2012, 2(9).
5. Wang H, Zhai ZJ. Application of coarse-grid
computational fluid dynamics on indoor environment
modeling: Optimizing the trade-off between grid
resolution and simulation accuracy, HVAC&R Research,
2012; 18:915-933.
6. Kusiak Y, Zeng G Xu. Minimizing energy consumption
of an air handling unit with a computational intelligence
approach. Energy and Buildings 2013, 60-355.
7. Pang L, Xu J, Fang L, Zhang H, Zhang Y. Evaluation of
an improved air distribution system for aircraft cabin.
Building and Environment 2013; 59:145-152.
8. Whalley R, Ameer AA. Heating, ventilation and air
Elevation View showing Existing Conditions conditioning system modeling. Building and Environment
2011; 46:643-656.
9. Shan K wang. Handbook of air conditioning and
refrigeration second edition, McGraw-Hill Pvt. limited
Company, 2000.
10. Yong Fu, Mo Sha. Thermal Modeling for a HVAC
Controlled Real-life Auditorium. Thermal engineering
2011; 32:343-352.
5. Conclusion
The results of the CFD analysis indicated that the proposed
alterations generally achieve the following when compared to
a model of the existing
Delivery of supply air from diffusers to the overall
auditorium and appears to improve.
Local temperature variations may be more moderate.
Gradually increases the amount of air flow velocity from
the grid base auditorium model.
Circulation patterns in the void space appear to be more
moderate and hence air dumping may be less likely to
occur.
72