Numerical simulation of the thermal comfort in a model of a passenger car cabin

Abstract

Results of numerical simulations of the air flow including the heat transport, the thermal radiation and the thermal comfort of passengers in a model of passenger car cabin are presented. The computations have been performed by coupling flow simulations conducted with the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code Open FOAM with simulations of the heat transport within the passengers using the finite-element code THESEUS-FE. The latter takes into account effects like blood flow, heat transfer through the skin and clothing as well as activity levels and ambient humidity in various layers with different heat transport characteristic. Based on these simulations four different ventilation variants known from the ventilation of aircraft cabins are analysed with respect to their performance regarding the thermal comfort of passengers and the their energy efficiency in future electric cars.