Airplane cabin mixing ventilation with time-periodic supply: Contaminant mass fluxes and ventilation efficiency

Airplane cabin ventilation is essential to ensure passengers' well-being. The conventional ventilation method is mixing ventilation with a statistically steady supply, which, according to former studies, has reached its limits regarding, for example, the ventilation efficiency. However, the effect of a statistically unsteady (time-periodic) supply on the mixing ventilation efficiency has remained largely unexplored. This research uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the large eddy simulation (LES) approach to study isothermal time-periodic mixing ventilation in a section of a single-aisle airplane cabin model, in which the air exhaled by the passengers functions as (passive) contaminants. Two time-periodic supply strategies are evaluated. The induced time-periodic airflow patterns promote an efficient delivery of fresh air to the passenger zone and affect the passengers' expiratory plumes. This results in increased mean contaminant mass fluxes, causing a strong reduction of the mean contaminant concentrations in the passenger zone (up to 23%) and an increased contaminant extraction from the cabin. Mean velocities increase with up to 55% but remain within the comfortable range. It is shown that the ventilation efficiency improves; that is, the contaminant removal effectiveness and air change efficiency (in the full cabin volume) increase with up to 20% and 7%, respectively.

Impact of morphological parameters on urban ventilation in compact cities: The case of the Tuscolano-Don Bosco district in Rome

Air pollution and heat stress are major concerns associated with the liveability, resilience and sustainability of cities. They directly affect health and comfort and are associated with augmented morbidity and mortality and an increase in the energy demand for building ventilation, air cleaning and cooling. Nevertheless, the detrimental effects of poor air quality may partly be mitigated by increased urban ventilation. This strategy is closely related to the level of urbanization and the urban morphology. Therefore, detailed investigations on the impact of different morphologies on urban ventilation are of paramount importance. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations have been widely used during the last decades to investigate the effects of the urban morphology on the urban ventilation. However, most of these studies focused on idealized building arrangements, while detailed investigations about the role of real urban morphologies are scarce. This study investigates the ventilation in a compact area in the city of Rome, Italy. 3D steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations are performed to analyze the impact of Morphological Parameters (MP) on the urban ventilation. The results show a considerable worsening of urban ventilation with increasing building density with a reduction in the mean wind velocity up to 62% experienced at the pedestrian level (z_p). Correlations between five MPs, e.g., plan area density, area-weighted mean building height, volume density, façade area density, and non-dimensional mean velocity at pedestrian level and at 10 m height are evaluated, and simple models are obtained using linear regression analysis. Among the selected MPs, the building façade area density shows a remarkable correlation with the non-dimensional mean velocity at z_p (R² = 0.82). Such correlations can be valuable tools for practitioners and urban designers, particularly during the first stage of planning, for highlighting areas potentially vulnerable to poor air conditions without running computationally expensive simulations.

Aerodynamic analysis of uphill drafting in cycling

Some teams aiming for victory in a mountain stage in cycling take control in the uphill sections of the stage. While drafting, the team imposes a high speed at the front of the peloton defending their team leader from opponent’s attacks. Drafting is a well-known strategy on flat or descending sections and has been studied before in this context. However, there are no systematic and extensive studies in the scientific literature on the aerodynamic effect of uphill drafting. Some studies even suggested that for gradients above 7.2% the speeds drop to 17 km/h and the air resistance can be neglected. In this paper, uphill drafting is analyzed and quantified by means of drag reductions and power reductions obtained by computational fluid dynamics simulations validated with wind tunnel measurements. It is shown that even for gradients above 7.2%, drafting can yield substantial benefits. Drafting allows cyclists to save over 7% of power on a slope of 7.5% at a speed of 6 m/s. At a speed of 8 m/s, this reduction can exceed 16%. Sensitivity analyses indicate that significant power savings can be achieved, also with varying bicycle, cyclist, road and environmental characteristics.

Ventilation and air cleaning to limit aerosol particle concentrations in a gym during the COVID-19 pandemic

SARS-CoV-2 can spread by close contact through large droplet spray and indirect contact via contaminated objects. There is mounting evidence that it can also be transmitted by inhalation of infected saliva aerosol particles. These particles are generated when breathing, talking, laughing, coughing or sneezing. It can be assumed that aerosol particle concentrations should be kept low in order to minimize the potential risk of airborne virus transmission. This paper presents measurements of aerosol particle concentrations in a gym, where saliva aerosol production is pronounced. 35 test persons performed physical exercise and aerosol particle concentrations, CO₂ concentrations, air temperature and relative humidity were obtained in the room of 886 m³. A separate test was used to discriminate between human endogenous and exogenous aerosol particles. Aerosol particle removal by mechanical ventilation and mobile air cleaning units was measured. The gym test showed that ventilation with air-change rate ACH = 2.2 h^-1, i.e. 4.5 times the minimum of the Dutch Building Code, was insufficient to stop the significant aerosol concentration rise over 30 min. Air cleaning alone with ACH = 1.39 h^-1 had a similar effect as ventilation alone. Simplified mathematical models were engaged to provide further insight into ventilation, air cleaning and deposition. It was shown that combining the above-mentioned ventilation and air cleaning can reduce aerosol particle concentrations with 80 to 90% , depending on aerosol size. This combination of existing ventilation supplemented with air cleaning is energy efficient and can also be applied for other indoor environments.

Impact of a motorcycle on cyclist aerodynamic drag in parallel and staggered arrangements

Cycling races contain a multitude of motorcycles for various activities including television broadcasting. During parts of the race, these motorcycles can ride in close proximity of cyclists. Earlier studies focused on the impact of a nearby motorcycle on cyclist drag for in-line arrangements. It was shown that not only a motorcycle in front of a cyclist but also a motorcycle closely behind a cyclist can substantially reduce cyclist drag. However, there appears to be no information in the scientific literature about the impact of the motorcycle on cyclist drag for parallel and staggered arrangements. This paper presents wind tunnel measurements of cyclist drag for 32 different parallel and staggered cyclist-motorcycle arrangements. It is shown that the parallel arrangement leads to a drag increase for the cyclist, in the range of 5 to about 10% for a lateral distance of 2 to 1 m. The staggered arrangement can lead to either a drag increase or a drag decrease, where the latter is about 2% for most positions analyzed. For one of the parallel arrangements, computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed to provide insight into the reasons for the drag increase. A cyclist power model was used to convert the drag changes into potential time gains or losses. Compared to a lone cyclist riding at a speed of 46.8 km/h (13 m/s) on level road in calm weather, the time loss by a drag increase of 10%, 4% and − 2% was 2.16, 0.76 s and − 0.80 s per km, respectively. These time differences are large enough to influence the outcome of cycling races.

Aerodynamic benefits for a cyclist by drafting behind a motorcycle

Motorcycles are present in cycling races for reasons including television broadcasting. During parts of the race, these motorcycles ride in front of individual or groups of cyclists. Concerns have been expressed in the professional cycling community that these motorcycles can provide aerodynamic benefits in terms of drag reduction for the cyclists drafting behind them. However, to the best of our knowledge, no information about the extent of these benefits is present in the scientific literature. Therefore, this paper analyses the potential drag reduction for a cyclist by drafting behind a motorcycle. Wind tunnel measurements and numerical simulations with computational fluid dynamics were performed. It was shown that drafting at separation distances d = 2.64, 10, 30 and 50 m can reduce the drag of the cyclist down to 52, 77, 88 and 93% of that of an isolated cyclist, respectively. A cyclist power model is used to convert these drag reductions into potential time gains. For a non-drafting cyclist at a speed of 54 km/h on level road in calm weather, the time gains by drafting at d = 2.64, 10, 30 and 50 m are 12.7, 5.4, 2.7 and 1.6 s per km, respectively. These time differences can influence the outcome of cycling races. The current rules of the International Cycling Union do not prevent these aerodynamic benefits from occurring in races.

Can indoor sports centers be allowed to re-open during the COVID-19 pandemic based on a certificate of equivalence?

Within a time span of only a few months, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has managed to spread across the world. This virus can spread by close contact, which includes large droplet spray and inhalation of microscopic droplets, and by indirect contact via contaminated objects. While in most countries, supermarkets have remained open, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities have ordered many other shops, restaurants, bars, music theaters and indoor sports centers to be closed. As part of COVID-19 (semi)lock-down exit strategies, many government authorities are now (May-June 2020) allowing a gradual re-opening, where sometimes indoor sport centers are last in line to be permitted to re-open. This technical note discusses the challenges in safely re-opening these facilities and the measures already suggested by others to partly tackle these challenges. It also elaborates three potential additional measures and based on these additional measures, it suggests the concept of a certificate of equivalence that could allow indoor sports centers with such a certificate to re-open safely and more rapidly. It also attempts to stimulate increased preparedness of indoor sports centers that should allow them to remain open safely during potential next waves of SARS-CoV-2 as well as future pandemics. It is concluded that fighting situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic and limiting economic damage requires increased collaboration and research by virologists, epidemiologists, microbiologists, aerosol scientists, building physicists, building services engineers and sports scientists.

CFD simulation of urban microclimate: Validation using high-resolution field measurements

Heat stress in urban areas can have detrimental effects on human health, comfort and productivity. In order to mitigate heat stress, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of urban microclimate are increasingly used. The validation of these simulations however requires high-quality experimental data to be compared with the simulation results. Due to lack of available high-resolution high-quality experimental data, CFD validation of urban microclimate for real urban areas is normally performed based on either a limited number of parameters measured at a limited number of points in space, or on experiments for idealized generic configurations. In this study, CFD simulations of urban microclimate are performed for a dense highly heterogeneous district in Nicosia, Cyprus and validated using a high-resolution dataset of on-site measurements of air temperature, wind speed and surface temperature conducted for the same district area. The CFD simulations are performed based on the 3D Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) equations and the simulated period covers four consecutive days in July 2010. It is shown that the CFD simulations can predict air temperatures with an average absolute difference of 1.35 °C, wind speed with an average absolute difference of 0.57 m/s and surface temperatures with an average absolute difference of 2.31 °C. Based on the comparative results, conclusions are made regarding the performance of URANS for the selected application and possible reasons for deviations between measured and simulated results are discussed.

Reduction of particulate matter concentrations by local removal in a building courtyard: Case study for the Delhi American Embassy School

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) is strongly linked to human morbidity and mortality, where higher exposure entails higher all-cause daily mortality and increased long-term risk of cardiopulmonary mortality. The objective of this study is to demonstrate how and to what extent the local removal of PM_2.5 can lead to reduced exposure for the children and teachers in the naturally ventilated courtyard of the American Embassy School (AES) high school building in Delhi. The study is performed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the 3D steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in combination with the realizable k-ε turbulence model on a very high resolution grid. First, CFD validation is performed using wind-tunnel experiments of the flow pattern in and above a generic single street canyon. Next, the case study is conducted where four commercially available electrostatic precipitation (ESP) units are installed at different positions inside the courtyard and the resulting performance is evaluated. PM_2.5 dispersion is modeled with an Eulerian advection-diffusion equation. It is shown that the best ESP positions yield overall volume-averaged PM_2.5 concentration reductions up to 34.1% in the courtyard's corridors, demonstrating the proposed mitigation strategy to be effective. Perspectives for further reduction of the PM concentrations and the related reduction of health risks are discussed.

Simulation of urban boundary and canopy layer flows in port areas induced by different marine boundary layer inflow conditions

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and wind-tunnel (WT) tests can be considered as boundary-value problems, where the inlet boundary condition, which is usually obtained inferring inlet mean wind profiles from on-site measurements or other type of experimental data, represents the large-scale atmospheric forcing exerted at the outer limit of the urban model. It is not clear, however, to which extent the choice of different inflow wind speed profiles may affect WT and CFD results in the urban environment. In the present study, this aspect is investigated through the comparison of the wind flow fields simulated numerically and tested experimentally in an atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel (ABLWT) within a district of Livorno city, Italy, called "Quartiere La Venezia". Three different shapes of inflow profiles were tested using the CFD technique and the results were compared with each other: one is based on the approach-flow profiles measured upstream of the urban model in the WT test section (WT profile) and two are based on anemometric data corresponding to the approach-flow profile measured by means of a LiDAR wind profiler (LiDAR profile 1 and 2). The analysis showed that using different wind speed profiles does not affect significantly the results in the urban canopy layer (UCL), where correlations of 95% and 98% were found between the LiDAR profile 1 and 2 data and the WT profile data (at z = 0.02 m above the bottom), respectively. Conversely, the different inflow profiles strongly affected the results above the UCL. This means that the local-scale effects induced on the wind field in the UCL by the urban texture are dominated mainly by the larger-scale forcing, as within the canopy the flow remains topologically invariant despite the different inflow conditions.

Driving Rain on Building Envelopes- I. Numerical Estimation and Full-Scale Experimental Verification

An accurate method for the quantification of real-life driving rain loads on building envelopes from generally available climatic data such as wind speed, wind direc tion and horizontal rainfall intensity serves various purposes, from the development of de sign guidelines for building envelopes to the incorporation of driving rain loads as a boundary condition in Heat-Air-Moisture (HAM) transfer analysis models. In this paper, an existing numerical technique for driving rain simulation is incorporated into a practical nu merical method to estimate driving rain loads on building envelopes based on the building geometry and the climatic data at the building site. This numerical method is applied for sev eral sequences of spells around a low-rise test building and the results are experimentally verified. It is shown that the numerical method can accurately estimate the spatial and tem poral distribution of driving rain loads on building envelopes.

Pedestrian Wind Environment around Buildings: Literature Review and Practical Examples

The construction of a building inevitably changes the microclimate in its vicinity. In particular near high-rise buildings, high wind velocities are often introduced at pedestrian level that can be experienced as uncomfortable or even dangerous. Therefore, the design of a building should not only focus on the building envelope and on providing good indoor environment, but should also include the effect of the design on the outdoor environment. The outdoor environment of a building, in particular related to wind, has received relatively little attention in the Building Physics community. The present paper addresses Building Physicists and focuses on the outdoor wind environment for pedestrians. First, a literature review on pedestrian wind studies is provided. The relation between wind effects, wind comfort, wind danger and wind climate is outlined. A brief review on wind tunnel and numerical modeling of building aerodynamics and pedestrian wind is given. The typical wind flow pattern around buildings and the related wind environment at pedestrian level are discussed. Second, these problems are illustrated by means of four practical examples, where the unfavorable pedestrian wind environment has been, is or should be a matter of serious concern for the building designers and the building owner.

Driving Rain on Building Envelopes— II. Representative Experimental Data for Driving Rain Estimation

A practical numerical method for driving rain estimation was presented in “Driving Rain on Building Envelopes—I” (Blocken and Carmeliet, 2000). An important prerequisite in employing this method is that the climatic data used as input are representative. In this paper, the attainment of representative experimental data for driving rain estimation is analysed. The importance of a sufficiently small time step to obtain representative climatic data measurements is indicated. It is shown that representative averaged values for wind speed and rainfall intensity for longer time steps can be obtained by averaging the measured data with the rainfall amounts as weighting factors. The effects of using different averaging techniques on the accuracy of the calculated driving rain results are investigated. It is found that the presented weighted averaging technique can provide accurate representative averaged data, whereas commonly used averaging techniques can give rise to large errors.

Influence of avenue-trees on air quality at the urban neighborhood scale. Part II: traffic pollutant concentrations at pedestrian level

Flow and dispersion of traffic-emitted pollutants were studied in a generic urban neighborhood for various avenue-tree layouts by employing 3D steady RANS simulations with the realizable k-ε turbulence model. In comparison to the tree-free situation quantitative and qualitative changes with flow reversal in the wind field were observed. Low to moderate increases (<13.2%) in the neighborhood-averaged pollutant concentration were found at pedestrian level. An approximately 1% increase in the neighborhood-averaged concentration was obtained with each percent of the street canyon volumes being occupied by vegetation for occupation fractions between 4 and 14%. The overall pattern of concentration changes relative to the tree-free situation was similar for all avenue-tree layouts. However, pronounced locally restricted decreases or increases in concentration (-87 to +1378%) occurred. The results indicate the necessity to account for existing or planned avenue-trees in neighborhood scaled is dispersion studies. Their consideration is prerequisite for reliable urban air quality assessment.

Influence of avenue-trees on air quality at the urban neighborhood scale. Part I: quality assurance studies and turbulent Schmidt number analysis for RANS CFD simulations

Flow and dispersion of traffic pollutants in a generic urban neighborhood with avenue-trees were investigated with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In Part I of this two-part contribution, quality assessment and assurance for CFD simulations in urban and vegetation configurations were addressed,before in Part II flow and dispersion in a generic urban neighborhood with multiple layouts of avenue trees were studied. In a first step, a grid sensitivity study was performed that inferred that a cell count of 20 per building height and 12 per canyon width is sufficient for reasonable grid insensitive solutions. Next, the performance of the realizable k-ε turbulence model in simulating urban flows and of the applied vegetation model in simulating flow and turbulence in trees was validated. Finally, based on simulations of street canyons with and without avenue-trees, an appropriate turbulent Schmidt number or modeling dispersion in the urban neighborhood was determined as Sc(t) =0.5.

Cyclist Drag in Team Pursuit: Influence of Cyclist Sequence, Stature, and Arm Spacing

In team pursuit, the drag of a group of cyclists riding in a pace line is dependent on several factors, such as anthropometric characteristics (stature) and position of each cyclist as well as the sequence in which they ride. To increase insight in drag reduction mechanisms, the aerodynamic drag of four cyclists riding in a pace line was investigated, using four different cyclists, and for four different sequences. In addition, each sequence was evaluated for two arm spacings. Instead of conventional field or wind tunnel experiments, a validated numerical approach (computational fluid dynamics) was used to evaluate cyclist drag, where the bicycles were not included in the model. The cyclist drag was clearly dependent on his position in the pace line, where second and subsequent positions experienced a drag reduction up to 40%, compared to an individual cyclist. Individual differences in stature and position on the bicycle led to an intercyclist variation of this drag reduction at a specific position in the sequence, but also to a variation of the total drag of the group for different sequences. A larger drag area for the group was found when riding with wider arm spacing. Such numerical studies on cyclists in a pace line are useful for determining the optimal cyclist sequence for team pursuit.

On the suitability of steady RANS CFD for forced mixing ventilation at transitional slot Reynolds numbers

Accurate prediction of ventilation flow is of primary importance for designing a healthy, comfortable, and energy-efficient indoor environment. Since the 1970s, the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has increased tremendously, and nowadays, it is one of the primary methods to assess ventilation flow in buildings. The most commonly used numerical approach consists of solving the steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with a turbulence model to provide closure. This article presents a detailed validation study of steady RANS for isothermal forced mixing ventilation of a cubical enclosure driven by a transitional wall jet. The validation is performed using particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements for slot Reynolds numbers of 1000 and 2500. Results obtained with the renormalization group (RNG) k-ε model, a low-Reynolds k-ε model, the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω model, and a Reynolds stress model (RSM) are compared with detailed experimental data. In general, the RNG k-ε model shows the weakest performance, whereas the low-Re k-ε model shows the best agreement with the measurements. In addition, the influence of the turbulence model on the predicted air exchange efficiency in the cubical enclosure is analyzed, indicating differences up to 44% for this particular case.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

This article presents a detailed numerical study of isothermal forced mixing ventilation driven by a low-velocity (transitional) wall jet using steady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. It is shown that the numerically obtained room airflow patterns are highly dependent on the chosen turbulence model and large differences with experimentally obtained velocity fields can be present. The renormalization group (RNG) k-ε model, which is commonly used for room airflow modeling, shows the largest deviations from the measured velocities, indicating the care that must be taken when selecting a turbulence model for room airflow prediction. As a result of the different predictions of the flow pattern in the room, large differences are present between the predicted air exchange efficiency obtained with the four tested turbulence models, which can be as high as 44%.

Large-Eddy Simulation of pollutant dispersion around a cubical building: analysis of the turbulent mass transport mechanism by unsteady concentration and velocity statistics

Pollutant transport due to the turbulent wind flow around buildings is a complex phenomenon which is challenging to reproduce with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In the present study we use Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) to investigate the turbulent mass transport mechanism in the case of gas dispersion around an isolated cubical building. Close agreement is found between wind-tunnel measurements and the computed average and standard deviation of concentration in the wake of the building. Since the turbulent mass flux is equal to the covariance of velocity and concentration, we perform a detailed statistical analysis of these variables to gain insight into the dispersion process. In particular, the fact that turbulent mass flux in the streamwise direction is directed from the low to high levels of mean concentration (counter-gradient mechanism) is explained. The large vortical structures developing around the building are shown to play an essential role in turbulent mass transport.

CFD simulation of pollutant dispersion around isolated buildings: on the role of convective and turbulent mass fluxes in the prediction accuracy

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is increasingly used to predict wind flow and pollutant dispersion around buildings. The two most frequently used approaches are solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and Large-Eddy Simulation (LES). In the present study, we compare the convective and turbulent mass fluxes predicted by these two approaches for two configurations of isolated buildings with distinctive features. We use this analysis to clarify the role of these two components of mass transport on the prediction accuracy of RANS and LES in terms of mean concentration. It is shown that the proper simulation of the convective fluxes is essential to predict an accurate concentration field. In addition, appropriate parameterization of the turbulent fluxes is needed with RANS models, while only the subgrid-scale effects are modeled with LES. Therefore, when the source is located outside of recirculation regions (case 1), both RANS and LES can provide accurate results. When the influence of the building is higher (case 2), RANS models predict erroneous convective fluxes and are largely outperformed by LES in terms of prediction accuracy of mean concentration. These conclusions suggest that the choice of the appropriate turbulence model depends on the configuration of the dispersion problem under study. It is also shown that for both cases LES predicts a counter-gradient mechanism of the streamwise turbulent mass transport, which is not reproduced by the gradient-diffusion hypothesis that is generally used with RANS models.