Applied Energy 68 (2001) 135159

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Numerical studies of airows induced by mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning (MVAC) systems
W.K. Chow *
Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China Accepted 1 September 2000

Abstract Indoor air ows induced by mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning (MVAC) systems are simulated by the technique of computational uid dynamics (CFD). Examples are taken to illustrate the capability of the technique. These include the evaluation of basic ventilation system designs, ventilation systems in an enclosed car-park, spot cooling system, air-conditioning system with chilled ceiling, cold air distribution system, eect of casual heat gain on the air diuser induced air ow and the underoor air supply system. Evaluation of the performances of the mechanical systems in those buildings are performed. Physical experiments in air-conditioned spaces reported by Sakamoto and Matsuo; and by Murakami and Kato are also simulated to assess how good are the predicted results. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning (MVAC) systems are commonly installed in buildings at the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR, formerly Hong Kong). To save energy on operating a MVAC system without downgrading the indoor environmental quality, the performance of the system under dierent congurations has to be assessed. The most economic method is to examine the resultant air ow and temperature distribution using the technique of

* Fax: +852-2765-7198. E-mail address: bewkchow@polyu.edu.hk. 0306-2619/01/$ - see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0306-2619(00)00050-7

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Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) (e.g. [13]). There, a set of partial dierential equations describing conservation of momentum, enthalpy, and sometimes chemical species is solved numerically [47]. There are three main components in a CFD model [8]: . Application of the nite (control) volume method to discretize the set of equation . Application of turbulence models, and . Algorithms for solving the velocity-pressure linked equation. This method is especially suitable for predicting the air ow and temperature distribution in a big air-conditioned space such as an atrium, a factory, a shopping mall or big waiting hall. Optimum design of the diuser spacing, cooling load, and location of exhaust for contaminants can be achieved. Works in the literature related to the topic have been reviewed and also the activities carried out related to indoor aerodynamics by the IEA Annex 20 [9,10]. There, the associated commercial and research packages for uid ow simulation are also listed. Many commercial CFD packages [11] are available which can predict the air-ow pattern induced by air distribution devices and thermal sources. Most of them can be executed in personal computers. It had been argued that for applications in building services engineering, instead of spending more eort in developing (duplicating to some extent!) `home-made' CFD packages for special problems, a more economical approach is to investigate whether commercial packages can be applied to study indoor airow problems; and how good will be the predicted results. PHOENICS [12] is a commercial package which can predict the air ow and heat transfer in buildings using CFD techniques. Special emphasis on building services engineering can be performed through the preprocessor menu FLAIR [13]. It provides a fast means of predicting the indoor thermal environment as an alternative or supplement to physical modelling. In this paper, the CFD package PHOENICS with the FLAIR preprocessor menu [12,13] is taken as the simulation tool for studying the indoor air ow induced by mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning systems. The two questions on where the package can be applied and how good is the predicted results will be studied. Use of the package for simulating the air ows in a building with a ventilation system only and a building with an air-conditioning system are illustrated. Experimental results reported by Sakamoto and Matsuo [14]; and Murkami and Kato [15] are used to justify the results. This is a good demonstration of how CFD can be used to solve dierent ventilation problems, as the local government is trying hard to revise the building regulations related to ventilation [16]. 2. The Software PHOENICS This CFD package PHOENICS [12,13] can be run in a personal computer, a workstation or a mainframe. The pre-processor programs are all contained in a package called SATELLITE. There, input les are labelled as Q1 and generated through graphical or test mode of input. The le would contain all the information for the

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buildings including geometry and materials, the input ow conditions generated by the MVAC system, boundary conditions at the openings and the number of control volumes that the building is to be divided into, the solution control criteria, use of the numerical schemes and physical uid models. This Q1 le is then run by the main processor EARTH. The CPU time required depends on the problem and for example, a transient three-dimensional simulation might take several days in an Intel-Pentium. An output le PHI will be generated after running the processor and read by the post-processor package PHOTON to get a graphical display on the vector and contour diagram. Data analysis and graphs can be prepared by another postprocessor AUTOPHOTON.

Fig. 1. Ventilation design. (a) VD1: Fans at both inlet and outlet. (b) VD2: Fans at outlet only.

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The FLAIR pre-processor is designed for dealing with problems in indoor air ows and temperatures induced by MVAC systems and res. However in using this pre-processor FLAIR, care must be taken in specifying the boundary conditions at the openings. In many cases, the GENERAL pre-processing menu, which is the general purpose menu without terms like `doors' as in the FLAIR menu, has to be

Fig. 2. Indoor environment induced by the two dierent ventilation designs. (a) Velocity vectors at the central z-plane of VD1. (b) Velocity vectors at the central z-plane of VD2.

Fig. 3. Geometry of the car park.

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used after generating the input Q1 le by the FLAIR menu. This is because many boundary conditions were xed in the FLAIR menu that are not easy to change without using the GENERAL pre-processing menu. 3. Mechanical-ventilation systems The CFD software PHOENICS was used for simulating the air ow eld in a building induced only by a mechanical-ventilation system. The enthalpy (i.e. the temperature) equation is not solved and air at the ambient temperature is assumed. The following examples are considered:

Fig. 4. Air ow in the car park. (a) Velocity vector. (b) Carbon-monoxide contour surface.

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3.1. Ventilation design Performance of a typical mechanical ventilation system was evaluated. Most of the commercial buildings in Hong Kong are forced ventilated and common ventilation designs include the design with ventilation fans installed both at the air intake and exhaust positions; and the `extraction-only' design with the fan operated only at the exhaust position. Those two cases are labelled as VD1 and VD2 in Fig. 1 and the performances of the two systems are evaluated. A compartment of length 5 m, width 5 m and height 3 m was considered. There were two openings of width 1 m and height 0.5 m constructed in positions as in Fig. 1. For ventilation design VD1 with two fans, air at 1 m s1 (0.5 m3 s1 or 24 air changes per hour) was supplied by the intake fan, and exhausted out by the extraction fan at the same rate. The compartment was divided into 20 parts by 20 parts by 20 parts along the x, y and z directions. Note that an opening is required in using PHOENICS and a free space of width 1 m and height 0.15 m located below the extraction fan, as shown in Fig. 1, was assumed. For the ventilation design VD2, only the extraction fan at the upper level was used and the inlet position was taken to be a free boundary. This is a common ventilation design where an air duct would not be provided to supply air. For VD2, the free boundary described in VD1 below the extraction fan was removed. For the locations of the computing control volumes, those along the x and z directions were kept the same, but the ones along the y direction were changed to 18 parts as shown in Fig. 1b. Results on the velocity vectors for the steady-state predicted at the central plane along the z-axis for VD1 are shown in Fig. 2a and those for VD2 in Fig. 2b. It can be seen that the air speed in the occupied zone for ventilation design VD1 would have an

Fig. 5. Geometry for the building with spot cooling system.

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extended region of fresh-air supply. No stagnant region was reported. However, some regions in the room with the VD2 design would have low air speed. People might not like such air stuness. Those air velocity vectors can also be used to calculate the mixing factor in the ventilation mixing model, as demonstrated earlier [3]. 3.2. Car-park ventilation Interest also lies in the design and evaluation of car-park ventilation systems. With the use of PHOENICS, it is possible to design and evaluate the installed mechanical

Fig. 6. Spot-cooling simulation with air-intake temperature of 30 C, at 5 m s1 (indoor room-air temperature at 35 C).

Fig. 7. Spot of 54 W m2 simulated with internal heat gain (heat gain of 54 W m2 switched on after cooling the room air to steady state). (a) Velocity vectors at the central z-plane. (b) Temperature contours at the central z-plane.

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ventilation system. To illustrate the application in this area, a car park of length 20 m, width 15 m and height 3.3 m was considered. There was an entrance/exit opening of width 5 m and height 2.5 m as shown in Fig. 3. Two rectangular air-supply inlets were at the upper level. Each of them was of size 0.5 m by 0.1 m, 2 m above the ground and separated by 9 m. Two extraction-outlets, each of size 0.5 m by 0.1 m, at the lower level and separation distance as for the supply inlet, were located at the opposite wall. The car park was divided into 22 by 10 by 18 parts along the x, y and z directions, respectively. A ventilation rate of 20 air changes per h (giving an intake air speed of 12 m s1 at each inlet) was designed for the car park. The three-dimensional pattern in the steady-state air velocity vectors is shown in Fig. 4. It can be seen that most of the places would have a suciently high air-speed. To illustrate the eectiveness of the ventilation system, suppose a car is emitting 500 ppm s1 of carbon monoxide [17] at the centre of the car park. The steady-state carbon-monoxide contour surface of 25 ppm is shown. It can be seen that most part of the car park has a carbon monoxide level less than 25 ppm. 4. Air-conditioning system For simulating the air-conditioning system, the temperature equation will be solved. To cool the room air, air at a temperature lower than the room temperature is to be discharged into the room. Suppose the heat gain in the room is Q (W), cool air of ow : rate mjet (kg s1) at a temperature Tjet ( C) is supplied by the air-conditioning system to cool the space, and the specic heat capacity of the air is Ca . At the steady-state without inltration, the following equation is derived for the room air temperature TRM :

Fig. 8. Geometry for the chilled ceiling-ventilation system.

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Q TRM : Tjet mjet Ca

: Expressing mjet in terms of the number of air changes per h (ACH), the volume of the space air VR in terms of oor area Af and height H, taking Ca to be 1100 J kg1 K1 and the air density to be 1.1 kg m3; then

Fig. 9ac. Indoor environment induced by the chilled-ceiling ventilation system (ceiling temperature 15 C, initial room temperature 35 C). (a) Velocity vector at the central z-plane. (b) Temperatures at the central z-plane. (c) Velocity vectors in the occupied zone.

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TRM

2:98 Q Tjet Af H ACH

4.1. Spot-cooling system The idea of spot cooling is to direct a high-velocity airstream (e.g. 5 m s1) into the occupied zone such as the work space (e.g. the ASHRAE Handbook System

Fig. 9d,e. Indoor environment induced by the chilled-ceiling ventilation system (ceiling temperature 15 C, initial room temperature 35 C). (d) Temperature contour in the occupied zone. (e) Absolute magnitude of air-speed contour in the occupied zone.

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[18]) to increase the evaporative cooling eect of the occupants. Cool air, at a few degrees lower than the ambient, might sometimes be used. The air temperature in this case is not too important, but a higher air speed (say up to 0.8 m s1) is to be achieved in the occupied zone. Inertial motion of the air due to the high discharge speed and the gravity eect resulted from its relatively higher density if cool air is used would give a very fast downward motion. A high entrainment rate of the surrounding air results. The design should give a thorough mixing of the cool air with the room air. The performance of the system is evaluated by simulating the air ow induced by the cool air-jet in an enclosure. The objective is to study the resultant air speed and temperature in the occupied zone after mixing with the warmer air. A room of length 10 m, width 10 m and height 4 m was considered. Cool air was discharged at a ceiling horizontal-vent of size 1 m by 1 m, located at the centre as shown

Fig. 10. Air ow pattern induced by the chilled-ceiling ventilation system with an air-intake temperature of 30 C.

Fig. 11. Indoor environment induced by the chilled-ceiling ventilation system with an air-intake temperature 35 C and a heat gain of 50 W m2. (a) Velocity vectors at the central z-plane. (b) Temperature contours at the central z-plane.

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in Fig. 5. The building was divided into 17 by 11 by 23 parts along the x, y and z directions, respectively. There were two openings of height 3m and width 3m at two walls of the building. Air discharged at a temperature 30 C, with a speed 5 ms1 was considered. The initial room temperature was taken as 35 C. The volume of the space was 400 m3, giving the air ow rate as 45 air changes per hour for 5 m s1 discharge air speed. The predicted steady-state air velocity vector pattern is shown in Fig. 6. Note that the room air would be cooled to 30 C, which is the temperature for the cool air discharged. The air speed in the occupied zone was about 1 m s1, which is good for improving evaporative cooling.

Fig. 12. Indoor environment induced by the chilled-ceiling ventilation system (air intake temperature of 30 C; heat gain of 50 W m2). (a) Velocity vectors at the central z-plane. (b) Temperature contours.

Fig. 13. Geometry for cold-air distribution system. (a) Room air at high level. (b) Room air at low level.

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A heating load of 54 W m2 was assumed to be located at oor level [19,20]. The above case was used with the air ow pattern for the steady-state used as the input data. Physically, that means the heater would be switched on when the room was cooled to a steady-state by the cool air. Results for the air ow pattern and temperature contours are shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the room air would be heated to about 1 C higher than the initial room temperature. Putting in numerical gures to Eq. (2), the steady-state value of the room-air temperature cooled by the air jet would be about 0.9 C higher than the air-jet temperature. Another case was simulated by turning on the heat gain at the same time as discharging cool air with the steady-state results the same as previously shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 14(i)ac. (i) Indoor environment induced by the cold-air distribution system (intake air at upper level). (a) Velocity vectors at the central z-direction. (b) Temperature contours at the central plane of zdirection. (c) Velocity vectors in the occupied zone (horizontal plane).

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4.2. Ventilation system with a chilled ceiling The ventilation system is to provide cooling by combining with the eect of chilled beams at the ceiling for improving thermal comfort [21,22]. Theoretically, as pointed out by Daves [23], air displacement will remove convective gains as air ows from heat-generating items, while the chilled beams induce the temperature gradient by cooling the air at the upper part of the room. This design is also evaluated by

Fig. 14(i)d,e. (i) Indoor environment induced by the cold-air distribution system (intake air at upper level). (d) Temperature contours in the occupied zone (horizontal plane). (e) Absolute magnitudes of airspeed in the occupied zone (horizontal plane).

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simulating the air ow in the same hall as described in Section 4.1 of length 10 m, width 10 m and height 4 m. There was an air intake of height 0.5 m and width 1 m at 0.5 m above the oor and an opening of height 3 m and width 2 m the other end. The ceiling was kept at 15 C. The geometrical conguration of the building is shown in Fig. 8 with the building divided into 16 by 17 and 23 parts along the x, y and z directions. The room temperature was taken to be the ambient temperature of 35 C and air was discharged at a speed of 1 m s1 (0.5 m3 s1 or 4.5 air changes per h) at the same temperature of 35 C. The resultant indoor environment is shown in Fig. 9ae for the air-velocity vectors and temperature at the central z-plane, and the air velocity vectors, temperature and absolute velocity in the occupied zone. It can be seen that the room air was cooled

Fig. 14(ii)ac. (ii) Indoor environment induced by the cold-air distribution system (intake air at upper level). (a) Velocity vectors at the central plane in the z-direction. (b) Temperature contours at central plane in the z-direction. (c) Velocity vector in the occupied zone (horizontal plane).

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down by 3.5 C. The air speed in the occupied zone exceeded 0.2 m s1. Another case was simulated by changing the air-intake temperature to 30 C but having the same air-ow rate. The room air temperature was cooled to 30 C at the steady-state and the results for the simulated air-ow pattern at the central z-plane are shown in Fig. 10. It can be seen that most parts of the building at the lower level would have a relatively-high air speed. This supports the idea of extending the cold air zone to the occupied level. Now the eect of heat gain is simulated by assuming there is a heating load of 50 W m2 at the oor level. For the rst case of the air-intake temperature of 35 C,

Fig. 14(ii)d,e. (ii) Indoor environment induced by the cold-air distribution system (intake air at upper level). (d) Temperature contours in the occupied zone (horizontal plane). (e) Absolute magnitudes of air speed in the occupied zone (horizontal plane).

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the predicted results for the indoor environment at the central z-plane are shown in Fig. 11a and b. The air ow pattern was disturbed and the room was heated up to 40 C. For the second case with a cooler air-intake temperature of 30 C and a heat load of 50 W m2 at oor level, the predicted air ow pattern and temperature contours at the central z-plane are shown in Fig. 12a and b. It can be seen that the room air temperature was above 36 C. Again, the air ow pattern in the occupied zone was disturbed due to the upward air motion induced by the warm oor.

Fig. 15. Geometry for simulating air ows induced by a heat source and an air diuser.

Fig. 16. Air ow induced by air diuser. (a) Velocity vectors at the central z-plane. (b) Temperatures at the central z-plane.

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4.3. Cold air distribution system The cold air distribution system is proposed to work together with the thermalstorage system. Cold air of temperature lower than 5 C would be used to give greater load savings. However, thermal comfort would not be achieved and so fan powered mixing boxes have to be used [24]. But this requires additional installation and operation costs. It is proposed [25,26] to mix the room air with the cold air in the room. A better design is proposed to discharge air at room temperature to the room and mix it with the cold air. This can be simulated by using the CFD package PHOENICS. The same compartment of length 10 m, width 10 m and height 4 m was considered. Cold air at a temperature 5 C was discharged from a vertical

Fig. 17. Air ows induced by the air diuser with a heat source. (a) Velocity vectors at the central z-plane. (b) Temperature contours at the central z-plane.

Fig. 18. Geometry for underoor air-supply system.

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diuser of height 0.5 m and width 0.5 m. The design of this diuser is such that cool air at a specied speed can be discharged perpendicular to the vertical diuser plane. Room air was supplied in an opposite wall at the same height. The building was divided into 18 by 13 by 16 parts along the x, y and z directions respectively as in Fig. 13a. A steady-state for the indoor environmental parameters is resulted and shown in Fig. 14(i)ae. This included the velocity vectors and temperature at a vertical plane through the control z-axis; the velocity vectors, temperature contour and magnitude of the absolute air speed at the horizontal plane in the occupied zone. It can be seen that mixing is not very good. Figs. 14(i)a and 14(i)b illustrated that a thermal stratied layer was formed due to cold air falling down, and relatively warmer air was stayed at the higher level. The room air inlet was then changed to the lower level as shown in Fig. 13b. The building was divided into 18 by 19 by 16 parts along the x, y and z directions, respectively. Steady-state results for the indoor environment are shown from Figs. 14(ii)ae. A much better mixing is achieved for the case by comparing the set of diagrams presented in Figs. 14(i) and 14(ii). As observed from Figs. 14(ii)b and 14(ii)d, apart from the position close to the room air inlet, distribution of air temperature was quite uniform. 4.4. Interaction of air ow induced by heat sources and by air diuser Another interesting topic is the air ow pattern in an air-conditioned compartment. A steady-state air-ow pattern resulted due to the cool air supplied by the air diuser. Magnitudes of the air speed at the occupied zone are much smaller than

Fig. 19. Underoor air-diusion system. (a) Velocity vectors at the central z-plane. (b) Temperature contours at the central z-plane.

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that at the air diuser and say up to 0.8 m s1 for achieving thermal comfort levels without a sense of draught. The room-air temperature would be kept constant if there is no inltration. However, the air ow pattern would be disturbed if some heat sources are turned on as the air speed at the occupied zone is rather small. The heat gain would be very important in aecting the air ow pattern. This fact is demonstrated by considering the room of length 10 m, width 10 m and height 4 m with an opening of width 3.5 m and height 3 m. Air was supplied at a speed of 1 m s1 (2.25 air changes per h) and temperature 15 C by a vertical diuser of height 0.5 m and width 0.5 m located at one side of the wall. There was an opening constructed on the opposite wall. Initial air temperature was at 35 C which was the same as for ambient air. The conguration is shown in Fig. 15. The air ow pattern and temperature contour without the heat source are shown in Fig. 16a and those with a heat source of 1 kW are shown in Fig. 17. It can be seen that the air-ow pattern was disturbed by the heat source due to the upward thermal plume induced by the heaters. Recirculation of air was found in some regions to give better mixing. The air temperature rose to above 20 C because of the heat source. 4.5. Underoor air-supply system Underoor air supply is also used for distributing cool air in Hong Kong. It has been reviewed by Sodec and Craig [27]; the systems were used rst in 1960s in Europe for rooms with high heat-production rates and then later in 1970s for oces, due to modernization and use of electronics equipment [28]. This design was used in Hong Kong for places where all the building-services equipment is supplied through

Fig. 20. Conguration reported by Sakamoto and Matsuo [12] and Kurabuchi et al. [26].

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installations under the oor for ease of rearrangement of partitions and furniture [29], e.g. the Hong Kong Bank headquarters. The performance of the system was simulated in a building of length 16 m, width 6 m and height 3 m. To have a better understanding of the resultant air ows, all the walls and the ceiling were removed to give a free open boundary. The ambient-air temperature was taken to be 22 C and cool air was discharged from a diuser of length 0.2 m and width 0.2 m at a speed of 18 m s1. The geometry is shown in Fig. 18, and the space is divided into 22 parts by 12 parts by 22 parts along the x, y and z directions, respectively. The results, for the indoor environment are shown in Fig. 19a and b. Within the region of width about 1.4 m from the centre of the diuser, the air was cooled by 2 C by

Fig. 21. Predicted air-ow paths for the experiment by Sakamoto and Matsuo [12]. (a) Predicted by PHOENICS. (b) Reported by Sakamoto and Matsuo (1980).

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Fig. 22. Conguration reported by Murakami and Kato [13].

Fig. 23. Predicted air ow patterns for the experiment by Murakami and Kato [13]. (a) Plane along the air inlets. (b) Central plane.

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the supplied cool-air jet. This is within the range of 0.8 to 1.5 m of the distance between the work place and the air outlet as quoted by Sodec and Craig [27]. 5. Experimental verication Experimental data available in literature are used to verify how good are the results predicted by PHOENICS. The rst case is the experiment reported by Sakamoto and Matsuo [14] for a room of cubic shape with length 2 m, width 2 m and height 2 m. Air was supplied through an inow square-duct of size 0.25 by 0.25 m at the centre of a wall. An exhaust was at the edge of another wall perpendicular to it as shown in Fig. 20. The intake air ow rate was 0.192 m3 s1 (86.4 air changes per h) and the results predicted by PHOENICS are shown in Fig. 21a. This is similar to the velocity patterns predicted as shown in Fig. 21b by Sakamoto and Matsuo [12]; and those CFD results using EXACT as quoted in Kurabuchi et al. [30]. The second case is the study reported by Murakami and Kato [15]. The chamber used was a clean room and of length 8 m, width 8 m and height 4.5 m. There were four vertical air diusers, each of size 1 by 1 m at the ceiling, to discharge the air. Another four extraction openings of size 1 by 1 m were located at the bottom two side walls as shown in Fig. 22. Air, of ow rate 1 m3 s1, is discharged at each of the four air-supply rates. The predicted velocity section at the neutral planes at z=2.5 and 4 m are shown in Fig. 23a and b together with the predicted and measured results by Murakami and Kato [15] shown in Fig. 24. It can be seen that fairly good results are predicted for both cases.

Fig. 24. Predicted and measured results by Murakami and Kato [13]. (a) Plane along the air inlets. (b) Central plane.

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6. Conclusion Values for the dening parameters of an indoor environment, including the ow pattern and temperature contour in a mechanical ventilated and air-conditioned space, can be predicted using the technique of CFD through the package PHOENICS with the FLAIR menu [12,13]. Note that the choice is arbitrary and the software is not necessarily restricted to a particular product. Results can be used to verify whether the mechanical ventilation or air-conditioning designs for the enclosures can provide a satisfactory environment. Common ventilation system designs can be assessed and the predicted air ow patterns would illustrate whether a particular ventilation design can give a good distribution of air. For problems encountered in air-condition design and evaluation of new systems where design data are absent, the CFD technique is a good approach. Examples have been taken for the spot-cooling system, ventilation system with chilled ceiling, cold air distribution system, and underoor air-supply system. Verication with experimental data reported in the literature [14,15] illustrated that the predicted results using the CFD technique software PHOENICS [12] are reasonably good. The technique should be a key element in the new project on reviewing the buildings regulations related to ventilation provision [16]. Acknowledgements PHOENICS was purchased from CHAM, UK.

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