English

A study is being conducted to assess the performance of displacement ventilation in high-ceiling areas such as commercial and industrial manufacturing facilities. These areas, which can range from 5 to 20 meters in height, often feature high internal heat loads and contaminants associated with heat sources. Very little performance data exists for displacement ventilation installations in high-ceiling areas, particularly any which account for the influence of wall temperature.

The paper presents a comparison between the results of experimental tests airflow pattern forming in a room with displacement ventilation and numerical calculation. The heat source in the room was a heating plate. Quasi-laminar diffusers supplied the air with the ventilation change rate from l to 7 h-1. Temperature and velocity distributions in the plume and in its surroundings as well as the tracer gas concentrations in the background were measured. The airflow in the room was also predicted by means of CFD, using the standard k-E turbulence model and standard log-law wall-functions.

Two-dimensional computational simulations are performed to examine the effect of vertical location of a convective heat source on thermal displacement ventilation systems. In this study, a heat source is modeled with seven different heights from the floor (0.5m, 0.75m, 1.0m, 1.25m, 1.5m, 1.75m, 2.0m) in a displacement ventilation environment. The flow and temperature fields in thermal displacement ventilation systems vary depending on the location of the heat source. As a heat source rises, the convective heat gain from the heat source to an occupied zone becomes less significant.

In the modem office environment there are numerous heat generating equipment. In addition there are loads from solar radiation and heat produced by people. Therefore, the loads will often exceed.the load the ventilation system can cope with. To meet this demand on extra cooling capacity the commercial market provides cooling ceiling panels and cooling beams. A literature review shows that until now the majority of the research has been focused on the cooling performance and only a minor part on the thermal comfort and air quality.

The thermal dynamic behaviour of buildings is solved by different methods; one of them is based on simulation by means of thermal node models. Computed results of the internal air temperature or the surface temperature are influenced by the used method, by the model for a solved problem situation, and by input values of model elements. The influence of the particular model element can be found by means of a sensitivity analysis.

Cooling ceiling systems are controlling only the sensible heat balance of the rooms; they are always combined with a ventilation system foreseen to control indoor humidity and to cover air renewal requirements. Between the types of cooling ceiling in use, the passive chilled beams seem to be the most sensitive to ventilation air influence. Jn most of the cases, the ventilation outlets are located in the ceiling void, and consequently this generates a penalty on the beam cooling power. The work presented aims at estimating this influence, through results issued from experimental studies.

The behaviour of room airflows under fully turbulent conditions is well known both in terms of experiments and numerical calculations by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). For room airflows where turbulence is not fully developed though, i.e. flows at low Reynolds numbers, the existing knowledge is limited. It has been the objective to investigate the behaviour of a plane isothermal wall jet in a full-scale ventilated room at low Reynolds numbers, i.e. when the flow is not fully turbulent. The results are significantly different from known theory for fully turbulent flows.

In this study the instantaneous temperatures and velocities close to a diffuser for displacement ventilation have been recorded by using whole-field measuring techniques. The air temperatures were measured indirectly by the use of a low thermal mass screen in conjunction with infrared thermography. The measuring screen was mounted parallel to the airflow, acting as a target screen. By using the thermal images the size of the near zone was also calculated. To determine air movements a whole field method called particle streak velocimetry (PSV) was used.

Nowadays the ventilated cooled beam is one of the most popular air-conditioning system, e.g. in Scandinavia and Central Europe. With such beams, it is possible to create high-quality indoor climate conditions, including thermal comfort and a low noise level within reasonable life-cycle costs. The beam is suitable for spaces with a high cooling requirement, low humidity load and relatively small ventilation requirement. Typically, the beams are used in offices and conference rooms.

The aim of this study is to improve the utilization of CFD approach in the applications of air conditioning technology. More precisely, to establish principles and recommendations to follow in order to design air distribution systems in small enclosures at low room air changes per hour by means of CFD technique. By the use of a commercial code, Fluent, the accuracy and reliability of such a numerical simulation are elucidated in this work for a mixing ventilation system; the air supply terminal is a commercial diffuser which creates a complicated 3D - wall jet below the ceiling.