Effect of Inlet Airflow Direction on the Indoor Environment of a Naturally Ventilated Room using CFD

Abstract

The present study emphases the numerical investigation of the change in the overall indoor environment of a mechanically heated room, due to alteration in direction of the cold air stream at the inlet. This study is important to find the correlation between the configuration of altered geometry on the indoor environment quality and human comfort. Different case studies have been studied by altering the direction of the flow of the unidirectional velocity vector (U) by turning clockwise around the Z-axis and keeping other geometry parameters unaltered. Numerically simulated observations have been analyzed to study the effect of changed airflow direction at the inlet on indoor environmental quality Slight variations in the indoor environment were observed due to changed inlet angle set from 0°-60°, but for the largest angle setting of (80°), considerable changes were observed ins temperature and flow patterns. When the inlet vent angle increased from 0°-80°, the airflow and thermal pattern in room changes. More swirls and circulation observed in the case of higher inlet angles. PPD values for subsequent cases were found under control for all the set of inlet angles. The lowest PPD and PMV values observed for an 80° inlet angle setting. The outcomes of the research would be valuable for the design and optimization of local buildings and more energy can be hoarded by proper installations of equipment and inlet vent location