An Evaluation of Turbulence Models for the Numerical Study of Forced and Natural Convective Flow in Atria

Abstract

A demand for methods that can be used in the numerical analysis of three dimensional air flow in large buildings has developed as more buildings are being designed with large atriums using a solar loading that leads to complex flow.The flow in such buildings is almost always turbulent which means that turbulence models that are accurate but which do not require undue computer resources have to be selected.As a result, a numerical study of natural convective heat transfer and turbulent flows in large atria, specifically part of the Atria in the EV building at Concordia University, has been completed.Experimental work on turbulence modeling and atria design has been studied and compared with the numerical results obtained here to gain confidence in the modeling techniques used in the study.The flow has been assumed to be steady, and the Boussinesq approximation has been used.The governing equations have been numerically solved using the CFD solver FLUENT.