NUMERICAL ANALYSIS AND THERMAL COMFORT OPTIMIZATION OF DIFFERENT VENTILATION SYSTEMS FOR COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT CABINS

Abstract

The ventilation systems in commercial aircraft cabins are important for providing a healthy and comfortable environment for the passengers and crew. The high density and close proximity of passengers in the modern aircraft cabin exposes them to the risk of contracting airborne diseases such as flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), chickenpox and tuberculosis. Current aircraft personalized ventilation (PV) systems still cannot ensure a constant circulation of fresh humidified air around each passenger’s breathing zone to shield them from airborne contaminants. It is proposed to investigate the use of PV systems in aircraft cabins using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. This would lead to better understanding and an improved microclimate around the breathing zone of each passenger. A comprehensive analysis framework based on the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) thermal comfort assessment models has been developed. The components of the framework consists of the age of air, predicted mean vote (PMV), predicted percentile dissatisfied (PPD), draught risk (PD), contaminant aerosol transport model and a humidity. Model validations have been done to ensure the robustness of the CFD framework developed.