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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA

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Tips & Tricks: Calculating the Mean Age of Air for HVAC simulations in ANSYS CFD
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PostedByLEAPCFDTeamonApr22,2014|1comment

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Engineerswhoaretaskedwithdesigningheating,ventilationandairconditioning(HVAC)systemsforbuildingswillneedtoassesstheindoorairqualityto

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ensureoptimumhealthandcomfortforoccupantsandmeetminimumregulatoryrequirements.GenerallyaHVACCFDanalysiswilltakeintoaccount
variablessuchasairtemperature,relativehumidity,airspeciesconcentrationsandvelocity.Additionally,CFDengineerscanuseANSYSCFDtosolvefor
thelocal"meanageofair"(MAA)toassesstheairqualitywithinanindoorenvironment.ByexaminingMAAacrossthehabitablespacewithinabuilding,
engineerscanquantifytheairchangeeffectiveness(ACE)oftheirventilationsystemandconfirmthattheirdesignmeetsNABERS/GreenStarregulations.
HowcanIplottheMeanAgeofAirinANSYSCFDPost?

LeadingEngineeringApplicati
Usuallydesignersareinterestedinlocaldistributions,thereforeitisusefultoplottheACEastheratiobetweenthenominaltimeconstantandtheageofair
oritsinverse.WithinANSYSCFDPost,itispossibletocalculatetheACEataspecifiedheightwithasimpleexpressiondefinedusingCEL.

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Thisallowsustoquantifytheareaoccupiedbyairwithanageexceedingthemeanvalueacrossareferencesurface(typicallylocatedatbreathingheight,

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ie.1mabovefloor).Accordingtomanyregulatorystandards,theareaexceedingthetargetvaluemustbelessthan5%.

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ThesetupfortheNormalisedAgeofAirvariable(expressedasAgeofAir/NominalTimeConstant).
NotethatwhensolvingusingFLUENT,avariablecalled"Scalar0"willbepresentinthevariablelist.Itsdimensionscanbedisplayedbydefininganew
expressionsuchas
AgeofAir=Scalar0[s]andthencreatinganewvariablewhichbydefinitionisequaltoAgeofAir.
ClippingtheAgeofAirtoaspecificrangeofvalues
ThisisusefultoquantifythesizeofanypocketsofairthatmayexceedourtargetMAAvalue(ie.thevalueprescribedbyregulations).Inordertovisualize

http://www.computationalfluiddynamics.com.au/tipstrickscalculatingmeanageofairwithcfd/

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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA

aeroacou
effects

theairwhichisolderthanthisnominalvalue,wecreateanisoclipforavaluegreaterthanthetargetvalue,appliedtoaplanelocatedataspecifiedheight
abovethefloor(typically1metre).

Nov6,2014
Theresultshouldlooksimilartotheoneshownintheimagebelow.The"holes"areregionswheretheMAAvaluesareaboveorbelowthethreshold

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manufac
use rising
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advantag

specifiedinyourisoclipsetup(inthiscase,anythingbelow1200secsandabove1300secs).

Oct29,2014

RecentComments

AnisoclipfortheAgeofAirVariable.

ChrisBennetton

WindEngineeringusingAN

Itisthenstraightforwardtocreateanexpressionthatquantifiesthe%areaoftheisocliptothefullareaoftheplane.Typicallyengineersaimtoensurethat

OmaronTips&Tricks:Estim

thisdoesnotexceed5%(accordingtotheACE0.95criteria).InthisexampletheCELexpressionwouldbewrittenas:

FirstCellHeightforcorrect

Ratio=area()@IsoClip1/area()@Plane3

HARIHARANon

EstimatingtheFirstCellHe
correctY+

metinonTips&Tricks:Estim

FirstCellHeightforcorrect

HARIHARANon

EstimatingtheFirstCellHe
correctY+

Tags
HowtocliptheAgeofAirVariabletothedesiredvalues

2012CSIROCFDConfere

aerodyna
ANSYSANSY
acoustics

HowdoIcalculatemeanageofairinmyANSYSCFDsimulation?

aerospaceanddefence

Themeanageofair(MAA)isnotautomaticallyincludedasapredefinedvariableingeneralpurposeCFDsoftware,suchasANSYSCFXandANSYS
Fluent.Itcanbedefinedinthepreprocessingstageasanadditionalvariableusingthemethodsoutlinedbelow.Thissectionprovidessomebackground
andfurtherdetailsonhowtoincludetheMAAvariableinbothANSYSCFXandANSYSFluent.
Somebackground...
Themeanageofair,denoted

,isobtainedbysolvingthefollowingadvectionequation:

CFDANSYSMe
AustralianInternationalAirshow

DesignCFD
methodsCFD

modellingof
turbulentflows

simulationacc

combustioncommonmisconc
consumerproductsConvergence

andtestingdesign
Thederivativewithrespectoftimeofthesourceis1sothattheintegralitselfistime.Whenintegrated,theagescalarwillequaltheresidencetime.

optimisation
eulerianmodelling

InANSYSCFDsolvers,scalarquantitiesaremultipliedbythedensity

inthetransportequations,sothatisinthisparticularcasetheequationtouse

is:

trainingFaceSizing

interaction formula1CF
SAEgranularflowHPC

LayerMeshing

innovationlagrangian

tracking MeshControlse
Thetermontherighthandsideoftheequationisknownasthesourceterm,andithastobetakenintoaccountwhenimplementingthemeanageofair
variableinthesimulation.

AccordingtotheACE0.95criteriaformodernbuildingregulations,forinstance,thedisplacementairwithintheenclosedenvironmenthastoprovideanair
changeeffectiveness(ACE)higherthan0.95foratleast95%ofthenetlettablearea(NLA)whenmeasuredinaccordancewithASHRAE1291997.

http://www.computationalfluiddynamics.com.au/tipstrickscalculatingmeanageofairwithcfd/

independencemineralsand

industriesmultiphase
Multiphysicssimulation

predictionof
aerodynamicf

ShearStressTranspo
turbulencemodel
engineeringtransitio
modellingturbulen
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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA
Airchangeeffectivenessisdefinedastheratiobetweenthenominaltimeconstantandtheaverageoftheageofairatareferenceheight

modelling

modelswallfunction

Thenominaltimeconstantistheratiobetweentheairvolumeofaspaceorbuildingdividedbytherateofoutdoorairsupply,whichistheincoming
volumetricflowrate.Meanresidencetime

Thereferencesurfaceistakenat1[m]abovethefloortoconsiderthebreathingzoneoftheenclosedspace.
ACEgivesameasureofthedistributionofairatthebreathingheightandavalueclosetounityindicatesthattheairdistributionwithinthezonehas
reachedperfectmixing.AccordingtotheGBCAsGreenStarrequirementsofIEQ2version2,awelldesignedceilingairdiffusionsystemwillachievean
ACEofnearunity(between0.8and1.2)atdesignairflowrates.AdisplacementventilationsystemtypicallyachievesanACEofgreaterthan1.2.
Howtodefinethevariable"AgeofAir"inANSYSCFX:
Tocalculatetheageofair,itisnecessarytocreateanewvariableundertheExpression,FunctionsandVariablestreeinCFXPre.Inthisexamplethenew
variablehasbeennamedAgeofAir.Ithasunitsofseconds.

AddinganadditionalvariableinCFXPre

thesetupforthecreationoftheAgeofAirVariable

CFXsolvesatransportequationforthenewlycreatedvariable.ThisisshownintheFluidModelstabofthedefaultdomain,undertheAdditionalVariable
Models.Astheageofairdoesnotdiffuse,itisnotnecessarytodefineaKinematicDiffusivityforit.Note,thatinANSYSCFX,turbulentdiffusionisincluded
bydefault.

ThesetupoftheAgeofAirVariableintheFluid
Modelstab

Asthetransportequationisoftype'specific',itisnecessarytoaddasourcetermequaltothefluiddensity.Thisisdonebycreatingasubdomain(here
namedAoA),undertheDefaultDomainanddefiningthe'Source'tobedensityasbelow.

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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA

OncecreatedthesubdomainisdisplayedintheDefault
Domaintree

Thesetupforthesourceinthesubdomain

ThelaststepinANSYSCFXistosetavalueforAgeofAiratanyboundaryconditionswhereaircanenterthedomain.Inthisexample,theAgeofAiratthe
diffuserandattheexhaust(foranyreturnflow)hasbeensetto0[s].Itisalsopossibletospecifynonzerovaluesifrecycledairisused.
Howtodefinethevariable"AgeofAir"inANSYSFluent
Intheprevioussectionwe'vedescribedthemethodtoincludeanadditionalvariable(intheformofatransportequation)forcalculatingtheageofairin
ANSYSCFX.Similarly,inANSYSFLUENTwecancalculatetheageofairthroughuseofauserdefinedscalar(UDS).Thisinvolvescreatesauserdefined
scalarfortheageofairthensolvingitsequationafterasolutionfortheflowfieldhasbeenobtained.

DefiningaUserDefinedScalar(UDS)

ThefollowingUDFcomputesthediffusivitytoaccountforturbulentdiffusion(whichisnotimplicitlydefinedasinCFX)andthesourceforthemeanageof
air.ThisfunctioncanbeexecutedasaninterpretedorcompiledUDF.
#*******************************************************************
#include"udf.h"
#include"prop.h"
#ThisdefinetheAoAdiffusivity
DEFINE_DIFFUSIVITY(mean_age_diff,c,t,i)
{
returnC_MU_EFF(c,t)/0.7
}
#Thisdefinesthesource
DEFINE_SOURCE(mean_age_source,c,t,dS,eqn)

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5/23/2015 ComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)BlogLEAPAustralia&NewZealand|Tips&Tricks:CalculatingtheMeanAgeofAirforHVACsimulationsinA
{
realsource
source=C_R(c,t)
dS[eqn]=0
returnsource
}
#********************************************************************
AftertheUDFisinterpretedorcompiled,thenamespecifiedintheDEFINEmacroargument(e.g.,mean_age_diff)willbecomevisibleandselectableinthe
Create/EditMaterialsdialogboxinANSYSFLUENT
Thenextstepistodefinethescalarinthevolumeoffluidrepresentingthesolutiondomain,
asshownintheFigurebelow.

DefinitionoftheUDSDiffusivityinthematerialdialogbox

ThesetupofthesourcetermfortheUDS

Finallyitisnecessarytosetaboundaryconditionforthescalaratallinletsandoutlets.Inthisexampleuds0scalarvalues=0attheinlet(but,asinCFX,
canbesetatanonzerovalueifdesired).ThesetupforthenewvariableformeanageofairinFLUENTisnowcomplete.

DefinitionoftheUDSattheboundaries

TheUserScalar0intheSolutionControlspanel.Byselecting

itthesolverwillcalculateasolutiononlyfortheUDS.

ThisposthasaimedtoprovideanoverviewoftheageofairparameterinCFD,andsometipsonhowtocreateandpostprocesstheresultsformeanage
ofairinANSYSCFD.CFDsimulationsofthistypeareincreasinglybeingperformedbybuildingdesignersandengineerstobothmeetstringentbuilding
codesandhelpdifferentiatethesustainabilityandliveabilityaspectsoftheirdesign.Tothiseffect,ANSYSCFDprovidesengineerswithavaluabletoolto
assessthelevelsofthermalcomfortforbuildingoccupants,byexaminingparameterssuchastheairtemperatureandradiantheatloads,aswellasatool
toensureadequateairchangeeffectivenessbysolvingandassessingthemeanageofair.ForfurtherinformationortodiscussyourownCFDproblem

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withinHVACindustry,pleaseleaveacommentbelow.

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Author:LEAPCFDTeam

1Comment
Gregory Couerbe
NOVEMBER7,2014
WithANSYSCFXSolver,iftheAdditionalVariableisdefinedas"Volumetric"insteadofas"Specific"thentheSourcetermistobesetto"1"
(insteadtobeequaltothedensity).Thedefinitionisthereforesimpler.

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