Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526

Measurement and prediction of indoor air ow in a model room

J.D. Posner, C.R. Buchanan, D. Dunn-Rankin*
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, 4200 Engineering Gateway, Irvine, CA 92697-3975, USA
Received 02 January 2002; accepted 06 September 2002

Abstract

In the interest of designing an efcient and acceptable indoor air environment in modern buildings, it is important to resolve the relationship
between geometric room parameters and the air ow patterns produced by mechanical ventilation systems. Toward this end, we compare
results from relatively simple three-dimensional numerical simulations (CFD) with laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) and particle image
velocimetry (PIV) experimental measurements of indoor air ows in a one-tenth sub-scale model room. Laminar, ke turbulence, and RNG k
e turbulence numerical models are used and evaluated with respect to their performance in simulating the ow in the model room, and results
of the numerical simulations and velocimetry measurements show how obstructions can greatly inuence the air ow and contaminant
transport in a room. It is important, therefore, that obstructions be considered in ventilation design. Simulations predict the measured trends in
a model room very well, with relative errors not much larger than 20%. In this study, the RNG model most accurately predicts the ow in a
partitioned room, capturing the gross effects of a large ow obstruction.
# 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Doppler anemometry; Numerical simulations; RNG model; Particle image velocimetry; Indoor air

1. Introduction Numerous investigators have found numerical simula-

Mechanical ventilation is the primary mechanism for
maintaining acceptable indoor air quality in modern build-
ings. Unfortunately, mechanical ventilation systems can also
be responsible for the problems associated with indoor air
quality like high levels of air contaminants due to insuf-
cient ow [1,2]. One general method to improve indoor air
quality is to simply increase the ventilation rate. This
approach, however, often conicts with building energy
efciency requirements because conditioning outdoor air
to the proper temperature, humidity level, and particle count
for use as ventilation air consumes energy [3]. An alternate
solution is to improve the efciency of ventilation systems
so that required increases in ventilation rates and energy
consumption are minimal. In this case, efciency refers to
the effective delivery of properly conditioned ventilation air
to building occupants rather than solely to the mechanical
performance of the ventilation system. To evaluate effective
delivery of air, it is important to resolve the relationships
between geometric room parameters and the air ow pat-
terns they produce.
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: 1-949-824-8745; fax: 1-949-824-8585.
E-mail address: ddunnran@uci.edu (D. Dunn-Rankin).
tions to be a valuable tool for room ventilation design [4
12], and with the ever increasing computational power of
computers, reliance on simulations for indoor air ow
prediction will increase. It is not clear, however, how precise
the predictions will be in complex indoor air ow environ-
ments. Many detailed investigations, like those by Chatur-
vedi and Mohieldin [13], Gosman et al. [14], Kotoh and
Yamanaka [15], Murakami and Kato [16], and Neilsen [10],
have dealt with idealized indoor spaces, usually two-dimen-
sional, empty rooms. Real rooms, however, often have
complex geometries which produce ow elds that involve
turbulence, ow separation, recirculation, and buoyancy.
According to Ferziger [17], all present turbulence models
are inadequate for describing three-dimensional boundary
layers, especially boundary layers that separate, as often
occurs in indoor air ows. Furthermore, turbulence models
have been developed assuming that the ow is at a very high
Reynolds number, an assumption that is rarely valid for the
air ow in modern buildings [8,18]. Another major question
is the ability of simulations to capture the effects of obstruc-
tions on air ow. Large objects cause strong streamline
curvature which introduces strains that simple turbulence
models may not properly simulate [19]. Relatively few
investigations have numerically examined environments
containing ow obstacles [4,6,20], and consequently, the

0378-7788/02/$ see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 7 8 - 7 7 8 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 1 6 3 - 9
516 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526
ability of any numerical model to correctly simulate the
complicated nature of realistic indoor air ows is uncertain
[5,8,19,21]. Furthermore, all numerical models need experi-
mental data against which they can be validated, yet there is
a surprising dearth of such data for even slightly complicated
indoor air ows.
In order to aid those exploring the potential for numerical
simulations as a tool in indoor air ventilation design, we
compare relatively conventional three-dimensional compu-
tational uid dynamics (CFD) results with laser Doppler
anemometry (LDA) and particle image velocimetry (PIV)
measurements of air ow in an isothermal model room.
Although real indoor spaces often have a variety complex-
ities such as temperature gradients and moving boundaries,
the key objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness
with which CFD can capture ow details near substantial
ow obstructions, since this capability helps determine the
usefulness of CFD as a ventilation design tool. Obstructions
can greatly inuence the air ow and contaminant transport
in a room, so it is important that they be considered in
ventilation [6,20,2224,41].
2. CFD model
Simulations are performed with the commercial CFD
software Fluent [25]. Although this software is used because
it provides state of the art grid generation and ow modeling
capabilities, comparable results could be obtained with any
of the many similar numerical models available commer-
cially or as shareware (e.g. PHOENICS [26]; or FLOW3D
[27]). Three different representations of the uid ow in the
room are used: laminar ow, turbulent ow using the
standard ke turbulence model, and turbulent ow using
the RNG ke turbulence model. In a relatively recent study,
Chen [5] compared the performance of ve different models
for simulating simple indoor air ows and found that the
standard and RNG ke predicted actual ow patterns best.
The RNG model was found to perform slightly better than
the standard model in some situations [5,28]. The validity of
the RNG ke model is not yet assured, however, due to its
entirely theoretical development and lack of widespread
application [19,21], but there is particular interest in its
performance with complex indoor air ows.
The governing equations for the indoor air system are the
mass conservation equation and the Reynolds-averaged
NavierStokes equations for three-dimensional uid ow.
In the simulations, three mathematical representations are
used to describe the air ow in the room. The rst assumes
the ow is laminar. The second and third assume the ow is
turbulent. As mentioned earlier, two different turbulence
models are used: the standard ke and RNG ke turbulence
models. Details on Reynolds-averaging and the ke model
are given by Gatski et al. [19].
In the standard ke model, model-dependent constants
are determined empirically. Standard values for these
constants are suggested by Jones and Launder [29]. In the
RNG model, the constants are determined from theory.
Standard values for these constants are suggested by
Yakhot and Orzag [30]. With both turbulence models,
standard values for the constants have been found to
work well for most situations, so alteration is generally
unnecessary [19].
Although the standard and RNG ke models are similar,
there are some important differences besides the constant
values used in them. These differences can cause the two
models to produce markedly different results. The rst is
that the standard ke model is based on the assumption of
high Reynolds number ow, while the RNG model is not.
The RNG is equally valid for low and high Reynolds
number ows [30]. This is an important capability for a
model that will be used to simulate indoor air ows
because they are generally wall-bounded, and, thus have
regions of low Reynolds number ow [5]. An additional
benet of this low Reynolds number extension is that the
governing equations can be integrated through the turbu-
lent boundary layer and into the viscous sub-layer adjacent
to the wall. This means that the wall-functions which are
used in the standard model are not necessary [30]. This is a
desirable attribute because wall-functions are often
derived from simplistic ows and are strictly valid only
for fully developed, equilibrium boundary layers [19].
Their application to complex indoor air ows may not
be justied [31].
A second difference between the two models is the
addition of the rate of strain term in the RNG dissipation
rate equation. This term varies in size, as well as sign, and
can have a signicant inuence on the turbulent viscosity,
especially in regions of large-strain rate. It is this feature
that allows the RNG model to partially account for
the strong anisotropy in regions of large shear enabling
it to provide improved predictions of separated ows and
anisotropic large-scale eddies [19]. These potential
improvements and freedom from the need of calibration
make the RNG ke model attractive for engineering appli-
cations [5].
3. Numerical simulation verification
3.1. Boundary conditions and flow properties
Boundary conditions used for the ow variables in the air
ow simulations are listed in Table 1. The air ow rate
provides adequate fresh air, as suggested by ASHRAE
Standard 62-1989, for a full-scale room with two occupants.
Particular values for turbulence variable boundary condi-
tions are set to match experimental conditions.
In the numerical simulations, uid properties are held
constant with values corresponding to a room temperature of
23 8C. The air density is 1.18 kg/m3 and the viscosity is
1:72  10 5 kg/(m s).
 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526
Table 1
Boundary condition for air flow simulations
Variable Wall Inlet Outlet
u 0 0 Outflow
v 0 0.235 m/s Outflow
w 0 0 Outflow
k k-Equation TI 4:4%, L 0:1 m Zero gradient
e Wall-function TI 4:4%, L 0:1 m Zero gradient
TI is turbulence intensity and L is a characteristic length.
3.2. Numerical solution procedure
In Fluent, the continuous governing equations are con-
verted into nite difference equations via integration over
control volumes created by a uniform rectangular grid. The
power law scheme [25] is used to discretize the convective
terms in space. Formally, this scheme exhibits rst-order
accuracy when the cell Reynolds number is low and second-
order accuracy when the cell Reynolds number is high. The
diffusion terms are discretized by nite differencing. This
differencing is second-order accurate. The time-dependent
terms are discretized using the Euler implicit method [25].
The time discretization is fully implicit and exhibits rst-
order accuracy.
The discrete equations are solved under the imposed
boundary conditions with an iterative procedure that imple-
ments the Line GaussSeidel method and the SIMPLE
algorithm [25]. Due to the complexity of the problem a
transient solution is required to achieve convergence. The
simulations begin with quiescent conditions and proceed in
time until the ow is developed. To validate its basic
performance, the numerical model was used to simulate a
free jet, and the resulting velocity prole matched very
closely (less than 3% deviation) the exact analytical solu-
tion.
4. Experimental arrangement
The experiments are used to demonstrate quantitatively
the inuence of obstacles on indoor air ows and to provide
Fig. 1. Flow visualization of laser sheet illuminated smoke entering a model room with one inlet and one return.
517
data that can be compared to numerical simulations, parti-
cularly in regions of turbulence generation. The experimen-
tal setup consists of a model room and associated ow
conditioners, a laser Doppler anemometry system, and a
particle image velocimetry system [32,33]. A ow visuali-
zation of smoke entering the model room is shown in Fig. 1.
The smoke shows the complexity of the ow and the large-
scale structures generated even in the simple geometry of a
closed box with a ceiling inlet and return. Both LDA and PIV
provide quantitative ow eld information.
4.1. Model room
In uid mechanics investigations, sub-scale models are
often used to reduce the cost and time associated with full-
scale systems and this scaling technique is used in this study,
where air ow data is taken in a sub-scale model room that is
roughly one-tenth the scale of a typical full-size ofce room.
The scaling approach requires that the important dimension-
less parameters that describe the sub-scale and full-scale
systems have the same values [34,35]. In this study, there are
no heat sources in the room and there is no heating or cooling
by the ventilation air, so the only important dimensionless
parameter is the Reynolds number. In most situations, buoy-
ancy effects from heating loads inuence the structure of the
air ow and must be included, but such effects are not in the
present study.
The sub-scale model room, as shown in Fig. 2, is made
from anodized aluminum and has four plane glass windows
which provide adequate optical access; it is 91.4 cm long,
45.7 cm wide, and 30.5 cm tall. A single inlet vent and outlet
vent, both on the ceiling, supply and remove ventilation air.
The inlet and exit are both 10.1 cm2 . A large partition is
located at the center of the room. The ventilation rate is held
constant, but is at a level representing a very low Reynolds
number relative to full scale. In accordance with ASHRAE
Standard 62-1989, the ventilation rate for an ofce room
should be 15 ft3 /min per person of fresh air. In addition,
recirculated air is mixed with the fresh air to bring the total
ow rate up. In a full-scale room, 10 times the size of the
model, a ventilation rate that provides 0.7 room air changes/
h of total air ow would result in a Reynolds number (Re),
518 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526
Fig. 2. Drawing of model room showing the partition and its location.
based on the inlet conditions, of 1600. Although this number
of room changes/h is quite low relative to the ASHRAE
Standard for fresh air, it is the Reynolds number we used as
the scaling criterion. Since the thrust of this paper is to
demonstrate the comparison between relatively simple CFD
models and experiments on scaled models, however, it is not
critical that the air ows used in this work are low relative to
full-scale ows.
For the model room, Re 1600 requires an inlet velocity
of 0.25 m/s. The difculty with this velocity is that the inlet
contains a disturbed laminar ow. The inlet section is not
long enough for the boundary layers to converge, so the
majority of the inlet air velocity prole is that of laminar
plug ow. The low ow velocity makes the system inher-
ently more sensitive to small disturbances and thermal
gradients that are assumed to be negligible in the numerical
simulation. Although the uctuations of temperature and
pressure in the inlet section are small, noticeable instabilities
in the inlet jet do occur and will be described later.
The high sensitivity to upstream disturbances requires that
the pressure regulation and upstream conditioning of the
inlet be closely monitored. A bypass ow meter helps
maintain a constant velocity and minimize pressure pertur-
bations. A series of two pressure regulators are set incre-
mentally to ensure that pressure perturbations do not
propagate into the experiment (the rst pressure regulator
is set at 20 psi; the second is at 5 psi). The ow rate is
Fig. 3. Flow visualization in the model room with a partition.
controlled by a needle valve, and the ow rate is adjusted
until 0.25 m/s is measured with the LDA system at the center
of the inlet jet. A high-density screen in the duct directly
following the high-pressure inlet generates a plug ow
velocity prole. The seed injection is approximately one
diameter down from the screen, and a series of plastic straws
are mounted as a ow straightener directly before the inlet to
the room. The entire inlet preparation is approximately
seven diameters long. A diffuser, mounted on top of the
exit, prevents ow effects in the laboratory from inuencing
signicantly the ows in the model room.
The model room and optical systems are mounted on
different tables to isolate the optical system from vibration.
A three-dimensional traverse translates the test section
relative to the measurement systems and millimetric rulers
placed on each axis monitor the position of the room. The
traverse rails are approximately twice the length of the
model room. This allows the entire room to be accessed
by the LDA and PIV systems. The vertical traverse is
constructed from three scissor-type car jacks.
Figs. 1 and 3 show a laser sheet ow visualization of the
ow in the model room with and without its partition in
place. The inlet jet is on the right hand side of the gure. The
half-height partition (visible in Fig. 3) is in the middle of the
room and runs across its entire width. The gure gives an
indication of the role played by large-scale structures,
particularly in the inlet jet and as the ow moves up and
over the partition.
4.2. Laser Doppler anemometry (LDA)
The complete LDA system is mounted atop two optical
breadboards, with the transmitting optics mounted on an
optical table perpendicular to the table that supports the
model, as shown in Fig. 4. The receiving optics, nearly on
axis, are mounted on a small raised breadboard attached to
the model room table.
The single-dimensional LDA system used in this experi-
ment utilizes a 1-W continuous argon-ion laser at 488 nm as
the coherent light source. The beam rst enters a 2:1
Keplerian telescope and a spatial lter, with the second lens
of the telescope mounted on a translation stage so the output
divergence can be minimized. The spatial lter cleans up the
 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526
Fig. 4. Schematic of laser Doppler anemometry system.
Gaussian prole of the beam and the telescope reduces the
beam diameter by half (from 2.25 to 1.1 mm). Because the
Bragg cell modulator is sensitive to the beam diameter, a
nominal beam diameter of 1 mm is needed for the Bragg cell
to operate as an efcient frequency shifting device [36].
Following the telescope and spatial lter, the rest of the
optical train is mounted vertically. The beams that make up
the probe volume must be aligned on a vertical plane for the
vertical component of velocity to be measured.
The beam exiting the telescope is reected by mirrors to a
broadband, 1 in.3 beam splitter. This conguration of the
beam splitter creates equal path lengths for the two beams to
the probe volume, thereby conserving coherence and
increasing the visibility of the Doppler signal [37]. At the
exit of the beam splitter, the beam intensities are measured
by a power meter. The beams initially have slightly different
intensities, but they can be equalized at the Bragg cells.
The rst-order Bragg cell shifted light is isolated using a
pinhole. The Bragg cells were driven at 41 and 41.1 MHz,
519
respectively. This difference produces a frequency shift of
100 kHz that allows for ow reversal measurements below
0.6 m/s. A 750 mm achromatic doublet focusing lens is used
to focus the beams together into a probe volume. The beams
are separated by 60 mm, giving a half angle of 2.3 , and
resulting in a probe volume 115 mm in diameter, 3 mm long
and with 6 mm fringe spacing. The receiving optics are
mounted on a separate on-axis table. The receiving lens
(350 mm doublet; f#5.5) is mounted 700 mm away from the
probe volume. This optical conguration results in unit
magnication and thus the pinhole spatial lter is 100
mm in diameter. A single mirror redirects the collected light
onto the pinhole so all of the receiving optics can be
mounted on a small single optical support. Durst et al.
[37] shows that the spatial lter is necessary to ensure that
bursts originating from multiple particles or bursts from
multiple beams are not collected accidentally. The PMT is
powered by a Stanford Research System power supply at
700 V. The output of the PMT is connected directly to a fast
520 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526
pre-amplier with a 50 O terminator for impedance match-
ing and good transient response. A TSI model 1980B burst
counter and correlator is used to determine the frequency of
the Doppler burst. The counter is used in individual realiza-
tion mode where each burst is counted only once. Each burst
is counted for at least eight mean zero crossings. The TSI
FIND software converts the frequency information into
velocity.
4.3. Particle image velocimetry (PIV)
The PIV system uses the same CW laser used for LDA,
but this time it is operated at full power (5 W) in multiline
mode. The continuous laser is temporally modulated by a
Bragg cell to produce two individual exposures of light per
PIV measurement [38]. This experiment is among the rst
PIV work using a continuous laser and Bragg cell modula-
tion in air ows [39]. The images are taken by a TSI cross-
correlation CCD camera, model 630044. The exposures are
recorded on different frames thus allowing use of cross-
correlation algorithms. The optical layout of the PIV system
is shown in Fig. 5. As for LDA, the output of the laser is fed
to a 2:1 Keplerian telescope, which decreases the beam
diameter to 1.1 mm. The temporal response of the Bragg cell
is important in PIV because of the small time scales used.
The input beam diameter remains small in order to retain
high modulation index through the Bragg cell. The output
beams of the Bragg cell are reected, via a silver mirror, to
an iris that isolates the rst-order beam. The rst-order beam
is then sent through a set of cylindrical and spherical lenses
that spread the light into a thin sheet. The rst lens is a
vertically oriented negative focal length cylindrical lens that
diverges the beam in the horizontal plane. Next, a spherical
lens converges the light in both planes. The nal lens, a
diverging cylindrical lens mounted vertically, bends the light
Fig. 5. Schematic of the PIV system.
into the vertical plane where it illuminates the ow tracers.
The combination of the rst cylindrical lens and second
spherical lens leads to a 1 mm thick light sheet at the test
section. The thickness of the sheet can be adjusted by
moving the rst cylindrical lens.
The CCD camera, Bragg cell, and computer acquisition
are synchronized by the TSI Laser Pulse synchronizer,
model 610030. The TSI digital cross-correlation camera
runs at 30 elds/s. The camera acts as the master signal
for the synchronization. The TSI synchronizer triggers the
computer acquisition and the Bragg cell from the video
signal of the camera. In the output analog video signal of the
camera, there is a spike of voltage at the switching of image
elds. This peak in voltage is the trigger for the synchro-
nizer. The synchronizer allows the pulses of light to be
placed in relation to the camera's eld switching. The
switching of elds takes about 10 ms, thus the minimum
time between exposures is 10 ms. The signal from the TSI
synchronizer attaches to the video input of the Bragg cell
driver. The length (pulse length) and position of the light
pulses are controlled by the cell driver through the synchro-
nizer. The length and separation of the pulses are set directly
on the synchronizer. The lower limit of the separation time is
either set by the response time of the device that is used to
modulate the light, or by the nite time it takes to switch
elds on the camera. The separation time is set as a function
of the uid velocity and magnication. The pulse length
determines the time that the scattered light is integrated onto
the CCD sensor. The pulse length is designated as a per-
centage of the separation time. The maximum pulse length is
50% of the separation time. The longer the pulse the more
light the camera integrates. Unfortunately, if the pulse is
too long it will blur the particle images and reduce the
accuracy of the cross-correlation. The cross-correlation uses
a Gaussian sub-pixel interpolation that utilizes the Gaussian
 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526
Fig. 6. (a) Locations inside the model room where the LDA measurements
were taken. (b) Locations inside the model room where the PIV
measurements were taken.
distribution of light on the sensor as an assumption. If this
assumption is not satised, the accuracy is compromised.
The pulse length and separation can be approximated ana-
lytically [39], but are best set by trial and error.
In the PIV experiments, two exposures at 15 Hz are made.
The CCD camera has a limitation of 15 Hz. This means that
Fig. 7. Comparison between LDA measurements and numerical simulation of the vertical velocity component along the vertical inlet jet axis as shown in
Fig. 6(a).
521
there will be two pulses modulated by the Bragg cell at
15 Hz. The upper limit of the pulse separation is double the
integration time of the eld, about 33 ms. The average time
between exposure pairs was 4.5 ms.
The temporal response of the Bragg cell modulation is
experimentally validated by monitoring the isolated rst-
order beam on an oscilloscope. The results showed that the
Bragg cell is able to modulate the light within 1 ms of the
synchronizing signal. There is no signicant decay or phase
lag. The camera eld of view is 66 mm  52 mm. The CCD
sensor size is 11 mm  8:6 mm, resulting in a linear mag-
nication of 0.17. The image is transferred as an analog
signal and is converted by the computer's A/D image
acquisition board to a 640  480 pixel digital image. Velo-
cities are computed using the TSI PIV software package and
standard cross-correlation methods Fig. 6. Additional details
of the experimental setup and operation are available in
[39,40].
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Simulation comparison with LDA measurements
The locations inside the model room where the LDA
measurements were taken are shown in Fig. 6(a). Plots of the
inlet jet centerline axial velocity determined from simulation
and experiment are shown in Fig. 7. Agreement is quite
good. Results from the laminar calculations are essentially
the same as those from the RNG ke calculations since in
the core of the inlet jet the structure approximates laminar
plug ow. The standard ke model predicts velocities to be
522 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526

Fig. 8. Comparison between LDA measurements and numerical simulation of the vertical velocity component along the horizontal line at mid-partition
height, as shown in Fig. 6(a).

slightly lower than the other two models do. However, experiment and about 0.096 m/s in all simulations. This
because the ow is quite slow all of the simulation results gives an error of about 14% between experimental and
capture the general trends of the experimental data. Air simulation values. The large dip in the velocities created
enters the room through the inlet, located at a distance of by the inlet jet, centered at about 0.69 m, has a peak value of
zero, with an axial velocity of 0.235 m/s. The velocity 0:273 m/s by experiment and about 0:21 m/s in all
slowly increases until a distance of about 0.17 m according simulations. This gives a relative error of about 20%. Notice
to experiment, 0.14 m according to laminar and RNG ke that the standard ke model predicts the shape of the dip to be
simulations, and 0.11 m according to standard ke simula- less steep on the sides and rounder at the bottom than the
tions. The experimental peak air ow speed is 0.249 m/s, and other two models. The gradients in the ow are attened out,
the calculated peak speeds are 0.243 and 0.242 m/s by the which results in greater discrepancy with experimental
laminar/RNG ke and standard ke models, respectively. values. Although the standard ke model gives the same
This is only about a 2% difference in the peak values. The peak values as the other models, this loss of resolution
axial velocity then begins to drop as the jet approaches the degrades its overall performance. The small velocities on
oor, located at a distance of 0.3 m from the inlet. The
calculated velocities drop off slightly faster than the experi-
mental values. The largest discrepancy, which occurs at a
distance of 0.25 m from the inlet, is about 22% for all of the
models. Overall, the laminar and RNG model predictions
agree slightly better with experimental measurements than
those of the standard ke model.
The vertical air ow velocity at the mid-partition height is
shown in Fig. 8. Simulation predictions show the same
general trends as experimental data, and agreement is good.
The velocity peak near the right wall is measured in experi-
ment to be 0.115 m/s and is predicted to be about 0.06 m/s in
all three simulations. This gives an error of about 48%
between experimental and simulation values. While this is
a fairly large percentage error, the velocities are extremely
low and it is clear from Fig. 8 that the absolute agreement is
better than is indicated by this percentage error. The other Fig. 9. Typical PIV image and resulting vectors for flow in the model
velocity peak, caused by the partition, is 0.109 m/s by room. Region shown is at the corner of the room in the midplane.
Fig. 10. (a) Approximate streamlines at the floor midplane of the model room based on vector velocities from the PIV results in the non-partitioned room. (b)
Approximate streamlines at the floor midplane of the model room based on vector velocities from the PIV results in the partitioned room.

Fig. 11. (a) Approximate streamlines at the midplane of the model room just at the top of the partition based on vector velocities from the PIV results. The
results show how the partition generates vortical flows in the room. (b) The rms velocity measured with PIV just above the partition showing that the
obstruction generates velocity fluctuations as the flow passes over it.
524 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526
Fig. 12. (a) Calculated RNG model turbulent kinetic energy at the midplane of the model room without a partition; the scale is normalized to 10
Calculated RNG model turbulent kinetic energy at the midplane of the model room with a partition; the scale is normalized to 10 5 m2 /s2 .
the left side of the room are predicted to be roughly the same
by all three models. Agreement with experiment is good
here.
In general, results from simulations using the laminar and
RNG models agree better with experimental data than do
results from the standard ke model. The standard model
tends to smooth out steep gradients in the ow eld, which
degrades its overall performance. This is due, in part, to an
over-prediction of the effective viscosity. The standard ke
model predicts the increase in the momentum diffusion
coefcient (due to turbulence) to be about 11 times that
predicted by the RNG model. Since the total amount of
momentum carried into the room by the inlet jet is the same
for both cases, and because the ow structure is similar, the
diffusive transport of momentum in the region should be
approximately the same. In order to compensate for the
large-diffusion coefcient (effective viscosity), the standard
ke model must predict lower velocity gradients.
5.2. PIV measurements
Fig. 9 shows a typical PIV image overlayed with velocity
vectors calculated from the autocorrelation of the particle
motion. The image is in the corner of the room. Fig. 10
shows approximate streamlines at the midplane of the room
near the oor as the inlet jet impinges there.
5
m2 /s2 . (b)
Fig. 11 shows the ow over the partition based on the PIV
results (see the measurement region in Fig. 6(b). The
approximate streamlines show the generation of vortical
structures as the ow crosses over the partition. The rms
velocity results give another measure of the production of
uctuating ows by the obstruction. Besides producing
rotational ow patterns, the partition also creates a stagnant
ow region near the oor on its back side. These results
compare well, qualitatively, to the turbulence kinetic energy
calculated in the numerical simulation. Fig. 12 is a contour
plot of the turbulent kinetic energy predicted with the
numerical simulation at the room midplane. These plots
show the regions of prominent vorticity generation to be the
shear layer between the inlet jet and the slow-moving room
uid, the ow near the oor, and the ow over the partition.
These results are consistent with the ow visualization
images and with the PIV results described above.
While there are some key regions of disagreement
between the numerical simulation and the measurements,
there are also broad regions of agreement. In general, the
large-scale convective motions are captured by the simula-
tion, while the detailed turbulent mixing and ows near the
partition are less accurately modeled. Considering the
advances that continue to occur in numerical simulations
of indoor air ows [5,42], these results can no doubt be
improved.
 J.D. Posner et al. / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 515526
6. Conclusion
Comprehensive but detailed measurements of indoor air
ows are generally difcult to accomplish because, similar
to numerical simulations, behaviors at the boundaries of
rooms (including walls, partitions, and furniture) can have a
large effect on ow motion. It is necessary, therefore, to
resolve at ne scale the behaviors near surfaces and at the
same time make measurements over the entire room space.
This work approaches this measurement challenge using a
one-tenth scale model room. Detailed laser Doppler ane-
mometry and particle image velocimetry measurements are
made throughout the room, including near corners, under the
inlet air jet, and near a room partition designed to simulate
room obstructions. The PIV measurements demonstrate a
novel Bragg cell shuttering mechanism for the rst time in
an indoor air ow. This method takes advantage of the
relatively low speed ows in the indoor environment and
allows PIV at much lower cost than is usual. The ows are
also modeled with a standard CFD numerical code to
examine the potential for such modeling to capture the
dominant ow effects. Of the ow models examined, the
RNG ke model showed best agreement with experiments,
but all of the simulations predict the measured trends in the
model room very well, with relative errors never much larger
than 20%. A large negative dip in the air ow velocities
created by the inlet jet is predicted accurately, as are the
velocity peaks at the right wall and the right face of the
partition. Also, the region of slow-moving air in the half of
the room away from inlet is predicted well. Not surprisingly,
these results show a strong inuence of room obstacles on
the ow patterns and residence time of the ows. Our ows
are at relatively low speeds, and though the ow is mildly
turbulent, the effects of turbulence do not signicantly
inuence the basic ow patterns and velocities.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by funding from the Center for
Indoor Air Research under award 95-06.
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