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ScienceDirect
Energy Procedia 112 (2017) 360 – 365

Sustainable Solutions for Energy and Environment, EENVIRO 2016, 26-28 October 2016,
Bucharest, Romania

HVAC system functionality simulation using ANSYS-Fluent

Cătălin George Popovici*
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi,
13 Dimitrie Mangeron, Iasi, 700050, Romania

Abstract

The aim of the study is to simulate the functionality of a HVAC system in different situations, summer and winter time, using
specialized software ANSYS-Fluent. A 2D building model was realized and simulating the internal conditions represented the
main elements of the study.
There are studied the indoor air temperature and air velocity in different conditions. The results are presented as graphs/plots and
spectra of interest parameters. HVAC system functionality simulation using ANSYS-Fluent is providing important results for the
studied scenario.
© 2017 Published
© 2017 The Authors. Published
by Elsevier Ltd. by
ThisElsevier Ltd.access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
is an open
Peer-review under responsibility ofthe organizing committee of the international conference on Sustainable Solutions for Energy
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
and Environment
Peer-review 2016.
under responsibility of the organizing committee of the international conference on Sustainable Solutions for Energy
and Environment 2016
Keywords:indoor climate; HVAC system; numerical simulation; ANSYS Fluent

1. Introduction

Studies regarding the simulation of air flow inside buildings and the effects over indoor climate are gaining more
and more importance in literature [1, 2]. Mostly, these analysis are achieved using specialized tools for transient [3]
or steady [4] state. Interest also exists in studying the influence of the outside air circulation over interior climate [5,
6] is analyzed. Another field of development is the medical one, where this type of approach provides preliminary
information on the surgery or emergency ward climate [7, 8]

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 0722540571

E-mail address: [email protected]

1876-6102 © 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the international conference on Sustainable Solutions for Energy and Environment 2016
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.1067
 Cătălin George Popovici / Energy Procedia 112 (2017) 360 – 365 361

The functionality of the HVAC system and other building services is a very important target for all type of
buildings and even more for locations with high density of people. The present study is analyzing the HVAC system
functionality, in steady state conditions, for a college amphitheater, being also available for a conference hall. The
capacity of the audience is about 100 people, distributed as 12 people on 8 rows. Each row is placed on a higher step
than previous one – Fig. 1.

Nomenclature

p - Pressure (Pa)
α - convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)
v - Overall velocity vector (m/s)
t - Time (s)
ρ - Density (kg/m3)
τ - Shear stress (Pa)
g - Gravitational acceleration (m/s2)
F - Force vector (N)
E - Total energy (J)
h - Enthalpy (J/kg)
h0- Standard state enthalpy of formation (energy/mass, energy/mole)
J - Mass flux; diffusion flux (kg/m2-s)
Sh- Source of heat added
Sm- Source of mass added to the continuous phase
Text - temperature of external air (°C)

a
b

Fig. 1 – Geometry of the amphitheater a) plan; b) longitudinal section

The air conditioning of the hall is realized using an independent HVAC system, double flux. The introduced
airflow is equal with the evacuated one, thus the ventilation system is balanced.

2. Case description

The treated air is introduced by the aid of a total 4 inlet grilles of 0,6mx0,6m placed at ceiling and 24 inlet grilles
of 0,15mx0,5m placed at risers - Fig. 2. The evacuation of the air is realized by 6 outlet grilles of 0,6mx0,6m placed
at ceiling.
There are two studied cases, the functionality of HVAC system during winter and during summer season
respectively. For winter season, the system was designed for a 2100 m3/h airflow, while in summer it is 3100 m3/h.
362 Cătălin George Popovici / Energy Procedia 112 (2017) 360 – 365

Fig. 2 – Longitudinal section – position of inlet and outlet grilles

3. Modeling HVAC system

The simulations are achieved in steady state regime, using turbulent flow and k-ε model, appropriate for
evaluation of airflow and heat transfer inside closed domains [9]. The results obtained refers to the temperature and
velocity data inside the amphitheater. Performing numerical simulations carried out by CFD tool, ANSYS-Fluent,
the differential equations of heat transfer and fluid mechanics were solved [10]:

Momentum equation:

G
( U v)  ’ ˜ ( U vv) ’p  ’(W )  U g  F (1)
Gt

Energy conservation:

G
( UE )  ’ ˜ (v( UE  p)) ’ ˜ (¦ h j J j )  S h (2)
Gt j

Conservation of mass:

Gp
 ’ ˜ ( U v) Sm (3)
Gt

The mesh of the model was realized using ANSYS-Meshing, with refinements near walls. The geometry of the
building is a simplified one, for the longitudinal section only, assuming a 2D model. The mass flow for each grille
was determined taking into account that Fluent uses an auxiliary virtual dimension of 1 m long [10].
The boundary conditions at inlet sections are the temperature of the conditioned air and the mass flow inlet
equivalent to airflow of HVAC system. Temperature of treated air is about 20 °C during winter and 24 °C in
summer. For external walls, a convective heat transfer was considered with α = 24 W/m2K, Text = -18 °C in winter
and α = 12 W/m2K, Text = 35 °C in summer. The walls are made of reinforced concrete insulated with 20 cm
expanded polystyrene.
The turbulence was modelled using semi-empirical model k-ε, considered adequate for simulating air flow inside
large domains [10].
 Cătălin George Popovici / Energy Procedia 112 (2017) 360 – 365 363

4. Results

The results are presented comparatively for the two studied cases. The qualitative data are revealed by contours
of velocity and temperature - Fig.3, Fig, 5. Also there are presented charts for different representative heights – Fig.
4, Fig. 6, or velocity vectors – Fig. 7.
a b

Fig. 3 – Temperature [°C] spectra: a) winter season b) summer season

The distribution of temperatures for both cases is highlighted in Fig. 3, the higher temperatures during summer
season being determined by the inlet air temperatures, external heat transfer and internal gains from people.

a b

Fig. 4 – Temperatures [°C] at different heights: a) winter season b) summer season

Numerical values for the same parameters can be noticed in Fig. 4 that represents the distribution of
temperatures at different height in longitudinal section. The elevation planes were selected as h = 1 m, 2 m, 3 m and
4 m, that are the most relevant from the point of view of human comfort. During winter season, temperatures are
placed in very narrow interval, from 20 °C to 21 °C, while in summer, due to thermal gradient they lay on 24-42 °C
gap.
364 Cătălin George Popovici / Energy Procedia 112 (2017) 360 – 365

a b

Fig. 5 - Velocity spectra: a) winter season b) summer season

The velocity spectra are almost similar for both seasons, caused by the same strategy of ventilation used during
winter and summer. The only difference is recorded on maximum air velocities that are higher on summer.

a b

Fig. 6 - Velocity at different heights: a) winter season b) summer season

a b

Fig. 7 – Velocity vectors: a) winter season b) summer season

Analyzing Fig. 6 and Fig. 9, it can be noticed that maximum values of velocity in both seasons are far and
away compared to the uncomfortable ones. Thus, in winter the maximum velocities in occupied zone are about 0.15
 Cătălin George Popovici / Energy Procedia 112 (2017) 360 – 365 365

m/s and for summer they are about 0.3 m/s.

5. Conclusions

The study aimed to simulate HVAC system functionality in different situations, summer and winter time, using
specialized software ANSYS-Fluent. The realization of 2D building model and simulation of external and internal
conditions it represents the main elements of simulation.
As general conclusion, it can be stated with certainty that the recently implemented HVAC system reaches its
task and provides adequate comfort conditions inside the amphitheater during both seasons.
The average velocities, are slightly bigger during summer season, due to higher airflows required. However,
this effect doesn’t affect the occupants, because they are lower than the comfort ones.HVAC system functionality
simulation using ANSYS-Fluent is providing important results for the studied scenario.
This type of analysis can be used for pre-examination of the future projects in order to obtain functional
systems and verify the all requirements for the HVAC installation. The results can be used in further analysis for
determining the correlations to the main comfort indicators, PMV and PPD.

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