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Tips & Tricks: Calculating the Mean Age of Air for HVAC simulations in ANSYS CFD
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Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinANSYSCFD
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PostedByLEAPCFDTeamonApr22,2014|1comment
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Engineerswhoaretaskedwithdesigningheating,ventilationandairconditioning(HVAC)systemsforbuildingswillneedtoassesstheindoorairqualityto
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ensureoptimumhealthandcomfortforoccupantsandmeetminimumregulatoryrequirements.GenerallyaHVACCFDanalysiswilltakeintoaccount
variablessuchasairtemperature,relativehumidity,airspeciesconcentrationsandvelocity.Additionally,CFDengineerscanuseANSYSCFDtosolvefor
thelocal"meanageofair"(MAA)toassesstheairqualitywithinanindoorenvironment.ByexaminingMAAacrossthehabitablespacewithinabuilding,
engineerscanquantifytheairchangeeffectiveness(ACE)oftheirventilationsystemandconfirmthattheirdesignmeetsNABERS/GreenStarregulations.
HowcanIplottheMeanAgeofAirinANSYSCFDPost?
LeadingEngineeringApplicati
Usuallydesignersareinterestedinlocaldistributions,thereforeitisusefultoplottheACEastheratiobetweenthenominaltimeconstantandtheageofair
oritsinverse.WithinANSYSCFDPost,itispossibletocalculatetheACEataspecifiedheightwithasimpleexpressiondefinedusingCEL.
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Thisallowsustoquantifytheareaoccupiedbyairwithanageexceedingthemeanvalueacrossareferencesurface(typicallylocatedatbreathingheight,
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ie.1mabovefloor).Accordingtomanyregulatorystandards,theareaexceedingthetargetvaluemustbelessthan5%.
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ThesetupfortheNormalisedAgeofAirvariable(expressedasAgeofAir/NominalTimeConstant).
NotethatwhensolvingusingFLUENT,avariablecalled"Scalar0"willbepresentinthevariablelist.Itsdimensionscanbedisplayedbydefininganew
expressionsuchas
AgeofAir=Scalar0[s]andthencreatinganewvariablewhichbydefinitionisequaltoAgeofAir.
ClippingtheAgeofAirtoaspecificrangeofvalues
ThisisusefultoquantifythesizeofanypocketsofairthatmayexceedourtargetMAAvalue(ie.thevalueprescribedbyregulations).Inordertovisualize
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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA
aeroacou
effects
theairwhichisolderthanthisnominalvalue,wecreateanisoclipforavaluegreaterthanthetargetvalue,appliedtoaplanelocatedataspecifiedheight
abovethefloor(typically1metre).
Nov6,2014
Theresultshouldlooksimilartotheoneshownintheimagebelow.The"holes"areregionswheretheMAAvaluesareaboveorbelowthethreshold
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manufac
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competit
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specifiedinyourisoclipsetup(inthiscase,anythingbelow1200secsandabove1300secs).
Oct29,2014
RecentComments
AnisoclipfortheAgeofAirVariable.
ChrisBennetton
WindEngineeringusingAN
Itisthenstraightforwardtocreateanexpressionthatquantifiesthe%areaoftheisocliptothefullareaoftheplane.Typicallyengineersaimtoensurethat
OmaronTips&Tricks:Estim
thisdoesnotexceed5%(accordingtotheACE0.95criteria).InthisexampletheCELexpressionwouldbewrittenas:
FirstCellHeightforcorrect
Ratio=area()@IsoClip1/area()@Plane3
HARIHARANon
EstimatingtheFirstCellHe
correctY+
metinonTips&Tricks:Estim
FirstCellHeightforcorrect
HARIHARANon
EstimatingtheFirstCellHe
correctY+
Tags
HowtocliptheAgeofAirVariabletothedesiredvalues
2012CSIROCFDConfere
aerodyna
ANSYSANSY
acoustics
HowdoIcalculatemeanageofairinmyANSYSCFDsimulation?
aerospaceanddefence
Themeanageofair(MAA)isnotautomaticallyincludedasapredefinedvariableingeneralpurposeCFDsoftware,suchasANSYSCFXandANSYS
Fluent.Itcanbedefinedinthepreprocessingstageasanadditionalvariableusingthemethodsoutlinedbelow.Thissectionprovidessomebackground
andfurtherdetailsonhowtoincludetheMAAvariableinbothANSYSCFXandANSYSFluent.
Somebackground...
Themeanageofair,denoted
,isobtainedbysolvingthefollowingadvectionequation:
CFDANSYSMe
AustralianInternationalAirshow
DesignCFD
methodsCFD
modellingof
turbulentflows
simulationacc
combustioncommonmisconc
consumerproductsConvergence
andtestingdesign
Thederivativewithrespectoftimeofthesourceis1sothattheintegralitselfistime.Whenintegrated,theagescalarwillequaltheresidencetime.
optimisation
eulerianmodelling
InANSYSCFDsolvers,scalarquantitiesaremultipliedbythedensity
inthetransportequations,sothatisinthisparticularcasetheequationtouse
is:
trainingFaceSizing
interaction formula1CF
SAEgranularflowHPC
LayerMeshing
innovationlagrangian
tracking MeshControlse
Thetermontherighthandsideoftheequationisknownasthesourceterm,andithastobetakenintoaccountwhenimplementingthemeanageofair
variableinthesimulation.
AccordingtotheACE0.95criteriaformodernbuildingregulations,forinstance,thedisplacementairwithintheenclosedenvironmenthastoprovideanair
changeeffectiveness(ACE)higherthan0.95foratleast95%ofthenetlettablearea(NLA)whenmeasuredinaccordancewithASHRAE1291997.
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independencemineralsand
industriesmultiphase
Multiphysicssimulation
predictionof
aerodynamicf
ShearStressTranspo
turbulencemodel
engineeringtransitio
modellingturbulen
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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA
Airchangeeffectivenessisdefinedastheratiobetweenthenominaltimeconstantandtheaverageoftheageofairatareferenceheight
modelling
modelswallfunction
Thenominaltimeconstantistheratiobetweentheairvolumeofaspaceorbuildingdividedbytherateofoutdoorairsupply,whichistheincoming
volumetricflowrate.Meanresidencetime
Thereferencesurfaceistakenat1[m]abovethefloortoconsiderthebreathingzoneoftheenclosedspace.
ACEgivesameasureofthedistributionofairatthebreathingheightandavalueclosetounityindicatesthattheairdistributionwithinthezonehas
reachedperfectmixing.AccordingtotheGBCAsGreenStarrequirementsofIEQ2version2,awelldesignedceilingairdiffusionsystemwillachievean
ACEofnearunity(between0.8and1.2)atdesignairflowrates.AdisplacementventilationsystemtypicallyachievesanACEofgreaterthan1.2.
Howtodefinethevariable"AgeofAir"inANSYSCFX:
Tocalculatetheageofair,itisnecessarytocreateanewvariableundertheExpression,FunctionsandVariablestreeinCFXPre.Inthisexamplethenew
variablehasbeennamedAgeofAir.Ithasunitsofseconds.
AddinganadditionalvariableinCFXPre
thesetupforthecreationoftheAgeofAirVariable
CFXsolvesatransportequationforthenewlycreatedvariable.ThisisshownintheFluidModelstabofthedefaultdomain,undertheAdditionalVariable
Models.Astheageofairdoesnotdiffuse,itisnotnecessarytodefineaKinematicDiffusivityforit.Note,thatinANSYSCFX,turbulentdiffusionisincluded
bydefault.
ThesetupoftheAgeofAirVariableintheFluid
Modelstab
Asthetransportequationisoftype'specific',itisnecessarytoaddasourcetermequaltothefluiddensity.Thisisdonebycreatingasubdomain(here
namedAoA),undertheDefaultDomainanddefiningthe'Source'tobedensityasbelow.
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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA
OncecreatedthesubdomainisdisplayedintheDefault
Domaintree
Thesetupforthesourceinthesubdomain
ThelaststepinANSYSCFXistosetavalueforAgeofAiratanyboundaryconditionswhereaircanenterthedomain.Inthisexample,theAgeofAiratthe
diffuserandattheexhaust(foranyreturnflow)hasbeensetto0[s].Itisalsopossibletospecifynonzerovaluesifrecycledairisused.
Howtodefinethevariable"AgeofAir"inANSYSFluent
Intheprevioussectionwe'vedescribedthemethodtoincludeanadditionalvariable(intheformofatransportequation)forcalculatingtheageofairin
ANSYSCFX.Similarly,inANSYSFLUENTwecancalculatetheageofairthroughuseofauserdefinedscalar(UDS).Thisinvolvescreatesauserdefined
scalarfortheageofairthensolvingitsequationafterasolutionfortheflowfieldhasbeenobtained.
DefiningaUserDefinedScalar(UDS)
ThefollowingUDFcomputesthediffusivitytoaccountforturbulentdiffusion(whichisnotimplicitlydefinedasinCFX)andthesourceforthemeanageof
air.ThisfunctioncanbeexecutedasaninterpretedorcompiledUDF.
#*******************************************************************
#include"udf.h"
#include"prop.h"
#ThisdefinetheAoAdiffusivity
DEFINE_DIFFUSIVITY(mean_age_diff,c,t,i)
{
returnC_MU_EFF(c,t)/0.7
}
#Thisdefinesthesource
DEFINE_SOURCE(mean_age_source,c,t,dS,eqn)
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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA
{
realsource
source=C_R(c,t)
dS[eqn]=0
returnsource
}
#********************************************************************
AftertheUDFisinterpretedorcompiled,thenamespecifiedintheDEFINEmacroargument(e.g.,mean_age_diff)willbecomevisibleandselectableinthe
Create/EditMaterialsdialogboxinANSYSFLUENT
Thenextstepistodefinethescalarinthevolumeoffluidrepresentingthesolutiondomain,
asshownintheFigurebelow.
DefinitionoftheUDSDiffusivityinthematerialdialogbox
ThesetupofthesourcetermfortheUDS
Finallyitisnecessarytosetaboundaryconditionforthescalaratallinletsandoutlets.Inthisexampleuds0scalarvalues=0attheinlet(but,asinCFX,
canbesetatanonzerovalueifdesired).ThesetupforthenewvariableformeanageofairinFLUENTisnowcomplete.
DefinitionoftheUDSattheboundaries
TheUserScalar0intheSolutionControlspanel.Byselecting
itthesolverwillcalculateasolutiononlyfortheUDS.
ThisposthasaimedtoprovideanoverviewoftheageofairparameterinCFD,andsometipsonhowtocreateandpostprocesstheresultsformeanage
ofairinANSYSCFD.CFDsimulationsofthistypeareincreasinglybeingperformedbybuildingdesignersandengineerstobothmeetstringentbuilding
codesandhelpdifferentiatethesustainabilityandliveabilityaspectsoftheirdesign.Tothiseffect,ANSYSCFDprovidesengineerswithavaluabletoolto
assessthelevelsofthermalcomfortforbuildingoccupants,byexaminingparameterssuchastheairtemperatureandradiantheatloads,aswellasatool
toensureadequateairchangeeffectivenessbysolvingandassessingthemeanageofair.ForfurtherinformationortodiscussyourownCFDproblem
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withinHVACindustry,pleaseleaveacommentbelow.
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Author:LEAPCFDTeam
1Comment
Gregory Couerbe
NOVEMBER7,2014
WithANSYSCFXSolver,iftheAdditionalVariableisdefinedas"Volumetric"insteadofas"Specific"thentheSourcetermistobesetto"1"
(insteadtobeequaltothedensity).Thedefinitionisthereforesimpler.
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