Case study: Numerical simulations for comfort assessment and optimization of the ventilation design for complex atriums

HVAC efficiency studies are carried out for two large and complex (in terms of geometry and boundary conditions) atriums. In addition to the usual steady state velocity and temperature fields, an innovative transient solution for the mixture fraction of freshly supplied air into the domain is obtained. Correlations between flow patterns (local recirculations), temperature field and transient distribution of fresh air are inferred. The results of the simulations are used by the HVAC engineers to optimize the ventilation designs.