Simulation of thermal coupling between a radiator and a room with zonal models

Zonal models are a promising way to predict air movement in a room with respect to comfort conditions and gradient of temperature because they require extremely low computer time and may be therefore rather easily included in multizone air movement models. The main objective of this paper is to study the arbility of the zonal models to predict the thermal behaviour of air in case of natural convection coupled with a radiator. First, we present two zonal models available in the literature. In that way, we describe the main hypotesises of the Howarth two zone model and the five zone model proposed by Inard. A first validation on a experimental comparison is presented. With the support of the IEA Annex 20 (Air flow pattern within buildings) testcase, we compare the results of the models. Furthermore, a comparison is made with the results of Chen obtained by simulation with a Low Reynolds number K-e model. First, it appears that all zonal models give indoor air temperature profiles consistent with Low Reynolds number k-e e results.