Measurement, visualization and simulation of air velocity at local air conditioning system

For the prototype of the local air conditioning of the working places named PERMICS(Personal Microclimate System) the air velocity and turbulence intensity at horizontal air inlets were analyzed. The velocity field was visualized with smoke. Based on findings from visualization the measurements were made with new technology of the hot-wire anemometer named HW3D-ED. Experimental analysis has been supplemented by a numerical simulation of the velocity field on the air terminal device and in the breathing zone using a commercial CFD package, software PHOENICS. Simulation results using three two-equation turbulence models: standard k-e, RNG k-e and Chen k-e model were compared with measurements results. Findings show complex inlet profile at inlets and small difference between measurements and simulations and also between selected turbulence models. Conclusions from visualization, measurements and simulations are need for further simulations with equivalent diameter of the inlet with uniform velocity and turbulence intensity profile to achieve comparable results of the velocity field from simulations with measurement results.