Application of particle image velocimetry for the measurement of the airflow characteristics in an aircraft cabin

Velocity and turbulence intensity profiles of the airflow inside a section of a narrow body (737) aircraft cabin were measured using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique.In this paper the measurement technique is described and the results are presented and discussed. The purpose of this study was to provide accurate experimental data for validation of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes developed for this application. The aircraft test section is approximately 5.6 m (18.3 ft) long, 2.8 m (9.2 ft) high, and 3.6 m (11.8 ft) wide, holding 18 passenger seats distributed in three rows. A thermal manikin was seated in one of the seats to simulate the physical and thermal presence of a human body. Each of the remaining 17 seats was equipped with a 100 W (341 Btu/h) heater to simulate the heat output of a person. Nine planes of velocity datawere collected near the manikin; six of them were oriented vertically and three horizontally. The measurement planes were composed of different numbers of individual sections, measuring 0.61 0.61 m (2 2 ft).