CFD Simulation for a Road Vehicle Cabin

Abstract. A numerical study of a two-dimensional, turbulent, recirculatingflow within a passenger car cabin is presented. The study isbased on the solution of the elliptic partial differential equations representingconservation of mass, momentum, temperature, turbulence energyand its dissipation rate in finite volume form. Algebraic expressionsfor the turbulent viscosity and diffusion coefficients are calculatedusing the two-equation model (k . epsilon) . Different parameters areconsidered to illustrate their influences on the flow filed and temperaturedistribution inside car cabin. These parameters include number andlocation of the air conditioning systems inlets inside car cabin, differentair temperatures at the inlets, different air velocities at the inlets,different solar intensity during day-time for a certain day of the year,different diffuse solar radiation (variation in the kind of car glass).Generally, the results indicate some of negative effects such as developmentof zones of low air circulation. Also it is found that thenumber of inlets inside car cabin play an important role in determiningcar air conditioning system efficiency. Moreover, the air temperatureand velocity at inlets play an important role in determining cabin climate.The results are used to enhance the understating of the airflowfields within a road vehicle passenger cabin.