Numerical investigations of the effects of manikin simplifications on the thermal flow field in indoor spaces

As one of the most basic parameters, manikin body feature could be an important factor influencing the airflow and temperature fields in indoor environments. This study aims to improve the computational efficiency by optimising and simplifying manikin body features. A 3D scanned computer-simulated person (CSP) with extremely detailed body features was employed, followed by two simplified CSP models with different approaches. One of the simplified models was rebuilt based on the skeleton of the 3D scanned model with very limited body features, while the other model was simplified by removing some of the features from the 3D scanned model. All CSPs were tested under quiescent condition, followed by further comparisons under displacement and mixed ventilations. The outcomes indicated that the geometric difference of manikin body would have significant impact on the airflow patterns near manikin bodies, whilst it has very limited influence on the temperature field. The difference of body features could significantly affect the development of thermal plume, which mainly reflected above the manikin head. Also, change of CSP body features due to simplifications may become more sensitive to the predicted results under mixed ventilation, as a result of fewer interactions between the thermal plume and injected airflow.

[1]  S. Kato,et al.  CFD analysis on characteristics of contaminated indoor air ventilation and its application in the evaluation of the effects of contaminant inhalation by a human occupant , 2002 .

[2]  P. Roache.  Perspective: A Method for Uniform Reporting of Grid Refinement Studies , 1994 .

[3]  A. Melikov,et al.  Experimental investigation of the human convective boundary layer in a quiescent indoor environment , 2014 .

[4]  J. Tu,et al.  Numerical investigation of micron particle inhalation by standing thermal manikins in horizontal airflows , 2016 .

[5]  Dan Nørtoft Sørensen,et al.  Modelling flow and heat transfer around a seated human body by computational fluid dynamics , 2003 .

[6]  A Dragan Ruzic,et al.  An approach to the modeling of a virtual thermal manikin , 2014 .

[7]  Jiyuan Tu,et al.  The simplification of computer simulated persons (CSPs) in CFD models of occupied indoor spaces , 2015 .

[8]  Shuzo Murakami,et al.  Combined simulation of airflow, radiation and moisture transport for heat release from a human body , 2000 .

[9]  Shuzo Murakami,et al.  Study on inhalation region by means of CFD analysis and experiment , 2005 .

[10]  Henrik Brohus,et al.  Benchmark: Benchmark Test for a Computer Simulated Person : Manikin Heat Loss for Thermal Comfort Evaluation : Versioon of February 2007 , 2007 .

[11]  Peter V. Nielsen,et al.  Dispersion of exhalation pollutants in a two-bed hospital ward with a downward ventilation system , 2008 .

[12]  Goodarz Ahmadi,et al.  Computational modeling of effects of thermal plume adjacent to the body on the indoor airflow and particle transport , 2012 .

[13]  Tracy L. Thatcher,et al.  Inhalation Transfer Factors for Air Pollution Health Risk Assessment , 2000, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[14]  Qingyan Chen,et al.  Flow and contaminant transport in an airliner cabin induced by a moving body: Model experiments and CFD predictions , 2010 .

[15]  Luís Eça,et al.  A procedure for the estimation of the numerical uncertainty of CFD calculations based on grid refinement studies , 2014, J. Comput. Phys..

[16]  Clement Kleinstreuer,et al.  Numerical simulation of mixed convection heat and mass transfer in a human inhalation test chamber , 2001 .

[17]  A. Lai,et al.  Modeling particle distribution and deposition in indoor environments with a new drift–flux model , 2006 .

[18]  Jiyuan Tu,et al.  Inhalability of micron particles through the nose and mouth , 2010, Inhalation toxicology.

[19]  Qingyan Chen.  COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT k-ε MODELS FOR INDOOR AIR FLOW COMPUTATIONS , 1995 .

[20]  N.A.G. Martinho,et al.  Evaluation of errors on the CFD computation of air flow and heat transfer around the human body , 2012 .