Various air distribution modes on commercial airplanes—Part 2: Computational fluid dynamics modeling and validation

Abstract

Both experimental test and numerical modeling can be used to investigate air distribution on commercial airplanes. Numerical modeling by computational fluid dynamics has gained popularity; however, current computational fluid dynamics modeling efforts are concentrated primarily on the mixing-air distribution mode. To fully evaluate computational fluid dynamics modeling for different air distribution modes, the flow, heat transfer, and pollutant species transport in a twin-aisle aircraft cabin mockup is modeled. Three air distribution modes, namely the mixing, under-aisle displacement, and personal air distribution modes, are studied. The steady renormalization group k-ϵ model together with the standard wall function has been employed for turbulence modeling and the near-wall treatment. The experimental data in terms of the velocity field, temperature, and CO₂ concentration profiles are applied to validate the numerical models. This study finds that the renormalization group k-ϵ model is able to solve major air distribution parameters in reasonable agreement with the measured values. When carrying out the steady computational modeling by resolving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, it should be noted that the models may underestimate the turbulent mixing effect.

Acknowledgments

The work presented in this article partly fulfills the research project of the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (the 973 Program; grant 2012CB720100).

Tengfei (Tim) Zhang, PhD, Member ASHRAE, is Associate Professor. Penghui Li is Master's Student. Yue Zhao is Master's Student. Shugang Wang, PhD, is Professor.