Modelling of two-phase, transient airflow and particles distribution in the indoor environment by Large Eddy Simulation

ABSTRACT

Prediction of particles distribution in the smaller-scale atmospheric environment, such as the indoor atmosphere, is of major importance for the comfort and the well-being of its occupants. The objective of this study is to investigate the airflow and particles transport, as well as the particles concentration evolution indoors, using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques. A three-dimensional, Euler–Euler two-phase flow model for the investigation of the indoor aerosol is developed, within a CFD general-purpose computer program (PHOENICS), and is validated against experimental measurements from the literature, for an ordinary case of indoor dilute aerosol. Turbulent flow is simulated by Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and the results are compared with those obtained applying the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations together with the ReNormalisation Group (RNG) k–ϵ model. Τwo-way coupling between the two phases is modelled by means of appropriate interphase interactions. This study focused on particles of one size group (mean aerodynamic diameter of 10 μm) but the numerical method described can equally well be applied for a broader size range. It is concluded that for the very dilute aerosols considered here, simpler models (such as single-phase and drift flux) do as well in predicting the important parameters of the flow, as the more complex ones.

KEYWORDS:

• Computational fluid dynamics
• air-particles dispersed flow
• Euler–Euler two-phase flow model
• Large Eddy Simulation
• particle concentration
• indoor atmosphere

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the State Scholarship Foundation of Greece.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the State Scholarship Foundation of Greece.