Study of airflow in vehicle cabin

• Main Author: Liu, Yusho YongXiang.
• Other Authors: Ooi Kim Tiow
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/54137
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

As more time is now spent on travelling and often sharing the same space, the study of airflow in a vehicle cabin is crucial in creating a comfortable and clean surrounding for passengers. Parameters determine the vehicle cabin climate and are taken into consideration for the well-being of the occupants of a vehicle cabin for perceived air quality and thermal comfort. The main focal parameters for this study are temperature, heat flux and velocity. Unlike conventional studies on indoor airflow, the study of cabin airflow requires more detailed information on the climate within a smaller space around the person, which is referred to as the micro-climate. Unlike indoor climates, the information provided by the change rate of air, supply, intake and exhaust conditions at the room level is not sufficient to evaluate at the micro level. For determining the flow of air in the vehicle cabin, two methods are available: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and measurement. Both tools have their limitations in their accuracy as well as reliability to determine flow characteristics. Prediction of the cabin airflow using the CFD is favorable given the effort and equipment required to measure the flow. However, experimental measurement is required to validate a CFD-model for quantitative credibility. Velocity measurement would be the main focus for measurement techniques. The most practical and commonly used apparatus to measure indoor air velocity is the hot sphere anemometer, which would be applied to this study. However, due to time and resource limitations, this portion of the study could not be conducted. Another technique called Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV), which is the most advanced method of velocity registration, has been also researched to an extent, but also not implemented due to time constraints.