CFD and PIV based investigation of indoor air flows dominated by buoyancy effects generated by human occupancy and equipment

This paper describes the full scale tests for air flows in a test chamber subject to heat loads generated by human occupancy and equipment. The Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique was used to investigate buoyancy-driven flows near the human thermal manikin “Victoria”. Based on the experimental facility details, a full scale 3-D CFD model of the test facility was generated. The results obtained from the CFD simulation were compared with data obtained from the PIV results. Results compare very well and demonstrate the potential usefulness of PIV as a CFD validation technique.