Numerical modeling of air distribution in the air conditioning system of a passenger plane

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Aerospace, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology

Abstract

In this study, the performance of the air distribution system in the cabin of a single-aisle passenger plane with 42 passengers seated in two rows of three has been analyzed. Computational fluid dynamics method has been used to investigate the air distribution in the cabin. In this numerical analysis, the effect of changing the relative humidity inside the cabin, changing the speed of air entering the cabin and changing the way of air distribution inside the cabin has been investigated. In order to determine the thermal comfort in the cabin, two parameters including the average number of predicted votes and the percentage of predicted dissatisfaction have been investigated. The results show that with the increase of relative humidity from 0 to 10%, changes in static pressure do not cause major changes in passenger comfort. Also, at a speed of 1 m/s for air entering the cabin, due to better air circulation in the head and other organs, the passengers feel more thermal comfort and less static pressure changes on their head and body. Finally, by changing the air distribution system from the mixing system to the displacement system, it was observed that the mixing air distribution system is better in terms of thermal comfort for passengers. However, in terms of static pressure in the head and body area of passengers, the displacement air distribution system is better.

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References

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Aerospace Knowledge and Technology Journal
Volume 12, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
January 2023
Pages 239-253

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