Investigation of Heat and Airflow Characteristics in Partitioned Zone with Mixed Ventilation for Building Applications

The heat and airflow characteristics inside a room were investigated numerically and experimentally for their potential building applications. Constant heat sources at different intensities and locations were considered over a range of Reynolds numbers 102 ? Re ?104 and a Grashof number of Gr = 106 considering mixed ventilation. The main model considered a single heat source in the middle of the room with an air supply inflow located in the ceiling. The two-dimensional governing equations were solved numerically using the finite volume technique under steady state conditions. An experimental set-up was designed and constructed to study the validity of the main model. A reasonable agreement was found between the theoretical and experimental results. To support this conclusion, two applications testing four different case studies were considered by using two different workstation scenarios and different heat source locations. The optimal transitional region ranging between predominately natural convection to forced convection was investigated. The parameter Gr/Re2 was introduced as a measure of the strength of the mixed convection. The results showed the isotherm and streamline contours inside the ventilated zone were affected by the value of the Reynolds number. The first experimental application determined the maximum surface temperature of the highest heat source intensity occurs at its far side from the air supply. The Reynolds number test values were found to be independent of the workstation scenario conditions tested, especially at Re > 103. During testing of the second application, the maximum computer surface temperature was decreased with an increase in the Reynolds number.