Evaluation of Turbulence Models and Boundary Conditions for Hybrid Ventilation in Reduced-scale Classroom Model

TL;DR

This study evaluates turbulence models and boundary conditions in RANS simulations of hybrid classroom ventilation, highlighting the importance of geometry and boundary setup for accurate airflow prediction.

Contribution

It systematically compares turbulence models and boundary conditions in RANS simulations against experimental data for hybrid ventilation airflow.

Findings

Turbulence models match near the door but over-predict downstream velocities.

Boundary conditions significantly influence simulation accuracy.

Extended domain boundary conditions yield results closest to experimental data.

Abstract

In this paper, we study the ventilation airflow in a model classroom, where exhaust fans throw out the used air, to replace it with outdoor air through open door. Hybrid ventilation, or mechanically assisted natural ventilation, of this kind is used as a retrofit design to reduce infection risk from airborne transmission. The air stream entering the door forms a jet-like flow, driven by the suction effect of exhaust fans. We compute the jet velocity using Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) method and compare with velocity field measured using particle image velocimetry. Different turbulence models are found to match experimental data near the door, but they over-predict the peak jet velocity further downstream. There is minimal variation between the results obtained using different turbulence models. The computational results are found to be sensitive to inlet boundary conditions, whether the door entry is specified as a pressure inlet or velocity inlet. The geometry of the space outside the door also has a significant effect on the jet velocity. Changing the boundary condition takes the computational results closer to the experimental data; the velocity profiles computed with the extended domain being the closest to the measured peak velocity. Interestingly, the centerline velocity decay computed with the extended domain aligns well with the experimental data. The other cases, irrespective of turbulence model, show much lower decay rate that seem to align with wall jet scaling. This suggests that geometry and boundary conditions at the door is critical to predict the airflow in hybrid ventilation.