Experimental and numerical investigation on the convective thermal plume around the head of the standing and lying human body

Abstract

This paper presents a study for two thermal plumes generated by two humanoid thermal manikins, one standing and one lying down. The research was approached from a numerical and experimental perspective. The numerical model represents an operating room (OR) with two surgeons, a patient and a unidirectional air flow (UAF) diffuser. The experimental study was made in a climatic chamber, having a similar air distribution system, using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and infrared thermography (IR) measurements. The purpose of the study was to characterize the thermal plumes of the two manikins by numerical and experimental studies. The results obtained from these different approaches were compared with each other and with the ones from the literature in order to validate our numerical models.