Simulation of Thermal Comfort Conditions of an Air-Conditioned Cafeteria in the Tropics

Abstract

This paper studies the current thermal comfort condition of an air-conditioned cafeteria based on objective measurements and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. Indoor comfort parameters such as temperature and airflow rate were simulated by a CFD tool. The results from field measurements and predicted values were then compared and contrasted. A simulated model that has the same geometrical configuration as the cafeteria was set as a benchmark model. Several additional models with different configuration of cafeteria layouts were proposed to achieve the required air temperature. It was found that the predicted results from the proposed models showed even distributions of airflow characteristics and temperature gradients. To maintain a thermally-acceptable air temperature of 28 °C, it is proposed that an additional air-conditioning unit be retrofitted to the current cafeteria layout.

Investigating thermal environment inside the kitchen of air‐conditioned pantry car on Indian Railway using CFD

“…In this study, “CFD” simulations have been used to evaluate “air temperature” and “air velocity” distribution in the kitchen of an air‐conditioned “pantry car” (Sabtalistia et al, 2014; Yahya et al, 2019; Zainuddin et al, 2014). Further, thermal comfort was estimated in this analysis by identifying the thermal sensation range of occupants inside pantry car kitchens based on parametric studies.…”

“…In this study, "CFD" simulations have been used to evaluate "air temperature" and "air velocity" distribution in the kitchen of an air-conditioned "pantry car" (Sabtalistia et al, 2014;Yahya et al, 2019;Zainuddin et al, 2014). Further, thermal comfort was es- "ANSYS fluent R14.5 version software," the "CAD model (in igs file format)" of the pantry car has been imported.…”

“…Hot thermal ambience is associated with most of the kitchen environment during the cooking period (Manshoor et al, 2014; Rahmillah et al, 2017; Ravindra et al, 2019). Several research studies have revealed that even air‐conditioned kitchen environment may not be conducive, if the supply air or ventilation system does not have proper installation (Z. Chen et al, 2020; Livchak et al, 2005; Zainuddin et al, 2014). The railway's “pantry car” is also a similar type of kitchen where numerous occupants work in different activities (Alam et al, 2020a, 2021).…”

“…Many investigators analyzed adequate thermal comfort in the kitchen environment by properly displacing the air supply system's state and validated the design modification using the “computational fluid dynamics (CFD)” simulation (Livchak et al, 2005; Qiu‐Wang & Zhen, 2006; Ren et al, 2012; Sabtalistia et al, 2014; Yuan et al, 2013). The CFD software was used in various countries to determine thermal comfort analysis such as; Anysys fluent 12.12 version in Indonesia (Sabtalistia et al, 2014), Fluent/Uns 5.3 in Malaysia (Zainuddin et al, 2014), AirPak 3.0 version in China (Li et al, 2014), ANSYS Fluent 12.0 version in Malaysia (Yahya et al, 2019), Airpak software 3.0 version in China (Yuan et al, 2013), ANSYS Fluent (CFD solver package) in Italy (Buratti et al, 2017), ANSYS fluent R14.5 version in India (Alam & Salve, 2021), CFX5 (version 5.5.1) in United Kingdom (Yang et al, 2006). In kitchen environment proper capture and containment efficiency could be achieved with an “airflow rate of 12,600 m 3 /h with an air supply temperature of 28°C” (Li et al, 2014).…”

“…In DV system the indoor temperature was decreased by 10°F (5.5°C; Livchak et al, 2005). Accordingly, controlling “air temperature” and “air velocity” achieves an acceptable thermal comfort in kitchen (cooking) areas (Zainuddin et al, 2014). In hot and humid environments, typically the SET index was employed to determine the occupant thermal comfort when performing CFD simulations (Han et al, 2007; Hussin et al, 2014; Malek et al, 2015; Damian, 2017; Nazarian et al, 2017; Shetty et al, 2016).…”