CFD modeling has the potential to greatly improve our knowledge of the performance of ventilation systems. Unfortunately a major bottleneck to this modeling is the fact that most diffusers are small compared to the size of the room and has high flow velocities.

The objective of this research project is to:

• Develop a method of specifying simplified boundary conditions for computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations of room air motion being driven by real air supply diffusers.
• Demonstrate the applicability of the method to a variety of commonly used diffusers through a comparison to experimental data.
• Develop a method of test with which diffuser manufacturers can provide data from tests of their products to enable CFD modeling of room airflow.

Principal Investigator:Qingyan Chen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Conducted:January 1999 - July 2000

Sponsored by:TC 4.10, Indoor Environmental Modeling