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Simulation of indoor airflow with RAST and SST-SAS models: A comparative study

  • Research Article
  • Indoor/Outdoor Airflow and Air Quality
  • Published:
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Abstract

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) provides a suitable means to predict the air distribution characteristics in indoor spaces. This paper evaluates the performance of two turbulence models in predicting an indoor airflow: the RAST (Rahman-Agarwal-Siikonen-Taghinia) sub-grid scale model (SGS) and SST-SAS (Shear Stress Transport with Scale-Adaptive Simulation) k-ω model of hybrid RANS-LES type. These two models are applied to investigate the airflows for three ventilation scenarios: (a) forced convection, (b) mixed (natural+forced) convection and (c) isothermal impinging jet in a room. The predictions are compared with the available experimental data in the literature. However, both models produce good results but comparisons show that RAST model predictions are in better agreement with experiments due to its sensitivity toward both the resolved strain rate and vorticity parameters.

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Abbreviations

C μ :

eddy-viscosity coefficient

\(\bar C_s\) :

Smagorinsky coefficient

G :

filter function

g :

gravitational acceleration

k :

total turbulent kinetic energy

Pr :

molecular Prandtl number

Pr sgs :

sub-grid scale Prandtl number

Re :

Reynolds number

\(\bar S_{ij}\) :

resolved strain rate tensor

T :

temperature

\(\bar u_i\) :

grid filter velocity

\(\bar u_\tau\) :

friction velocity

\(\bar W_{ij}\) :

resolved vorticity tensor

y + :

dimensionless wall distance \((\bar u_\tau y/v)\)

β :

thermal expansion coefficient

δ i,j :

Kronecker’s delta

Δt :

time step

\(\bar \Delta\) :

grid filter width

v,v T :

laminar and turbulent viscosities

\(\bar \theta _i\) :

grid filter temperature

ρ :

density

τ i,j :

sub-grid scale stress tensor

CFD:

computational fluid dynamics

DSM:

dynamic Smagorinsky model

LES:

large eddy simulation

RANS:

Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes

RAST:

Rahman-Agarwal-Siikonen-Taghinia

SGS:

sub-grid scale

i, j :

variable numbers

in:

inlet condition

out:

outlet condition

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, Aalto University, FI-00076, Epoo, Finland

    Javad Taghinia, Mizanur Rahman & Timo Siikonen

Authors
  1. Javad Taghinia
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  2. Mizanur Rahman
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  3. Timo Siikonen
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Correspondence to Javad Taghinia.

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Taghinia, J., Rahman, M. & Siikonen, T. Simulation of indoor airflow with RAST and SST-SAS models: A comparative study. Build. Simul. 8, 297–306 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-015-0213-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-015-0213-z

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