Three dimensional numerical analysis of temperature distribution in an automobile cabin

Abstract

In this study, 3-D numerical analysis of temperature distribution in the automo-bile cabin were performed by using computational fluid dynamics method. For this purpose, a 3-D automobile cabin including window and outer surfaces was modeled by using the real dimensions of a car. To evaluate the results of numeri-cal analysis according to thermal comfort, a virtual manikin divided into 17 parts with real dimensions and physiological shape was added to the model of the au-tomobile cabin. Temperature distributions of the automobile cabin were obtained from the results of the 3-D steady and transient numerical analyses for standard heating and cooling period. Validations of the results were achieved by compar-ing to the results of the experimental studies performed simultaneously with the numerical analyses.