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"CFD INVESTIGATION OFUNDERGROUD CAR PARK VENTILATION WITH

DIFFERENT DUCTLESS JET FAN CONFIGURATIONS"

Article · July 2012

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 CFD INVESTIGATION OF UNDERGROUND CAR PARK
VENTILATION WITH DIFFERENT DUCTLESS JET FAN
CONFIGURATIONS
Ashraf Lashine
Mechanical Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering, Benha University
E-mail :[email protected]

The main objective of this project is to investigate the air flow and velocity
profile of jet fan system in an underground car park by using computational
analysis and compare the results with other different jet fan configuration.
Fire events in covered car parks are dangerous due to smoke that may flow
rapidly through the compartment with almost no restrictions. These
compartments have a large area and their small height reduces the depth of
the smoke free lower layer.
Jet fan is used to enhance air circulation in an enclosed space like
underground car-park because of vehicle emissions such as CO from exhaust
and CO2 in case of fire. It is also applied to dilute the air and then extract out
the smoke or CO2 product of fire to allow evacuation and for fire brigade to
take action. An underground car park is modeled in proprietary
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software to investigate only the air
ventilation pattern and effectiveness of dilution with number of jet fan in
operation in the same enclosed car park. The results obtained are presented
graphically by showing velocity contour profile from top view at four
different heights cut planes of the underground car park. From the results
obtained, the performance of air circulation inside the car park is improved
with increasing number of jet fan in operation. The result also shows that
application jet fan is a trial-and –error or iterative manner to identify the
suitable number of jet fan needed for optimum air ventilation quality.

KEYWORDS:
CFD, Car Park Ventilation

Nomenclature
Cp specific heat, J.kg-1.K-1
D diameter, m
H height of control volume, m
J total flux,W/m2
k thermal conductivity, W. .m-1.K-1
L length, m
P Pressure drop, pa
S source term, surface
t time, sec
T temperature, K
U,V Cartesian components of fluid velocity, m.s-1
x, y, z Cartesian coordinates

Subscript
h hydraulic

Greek symbols
 Dynamic viscosity, N.s.m-2
 Mass density, kg.m-3
Γ diffusion coefficient
φ general dependent variable
- Average value

INTRODUCTION
Enclosed or underground car parks are primarily ventilated to remove
harmful pollution from vehicle emissions, providing fresh air for patrons.
Ventilation is also a requirement in the event of a fire to remove hot smoke,
allowing escape and providing access for fire fighters. Car park ventilation
systems are required to achieve two objectives [1]: Firstly, when the car park
is in general use, it is important that the exhaust gases produced by vehicles
are effectively removed and that there are no regions of stagnant air.
Secondly, in the case of a fire, assistance needs to be given to the Fire
Service to clear smoke from the car park during and after the fire.

The basic requirements for underground car park is the ventilation system
has to provide 6 air changes per hour (ACH) for general ventilation on all
levels and 10 ACH for fire ventilation. Besides that, the system should be
capable of operating at temperatures of up to 300°C for 60 minutes and the
mechanical ventilation equipment used should be made from materials that
have a melting point above 800°C [2].

In recent years, jet fan or impulse technology has established itself as the
new standard in car park ventilation. Impulse ventilation systems are an
alternative to ducted mechanical extract systems that overcomes many of the
problems associated with such systems [1].

A series of such free-blowing fans that mounted under the ceiling will
induce air movement from the air inlet openings towards pre-designated
extract points to remove smoke and fumes. The number and location of fans
are carefully chosen to match the system design requirements, and in order
to ensure that there are no dead spots for fumes and smoke to stagnate and
collect [2].Jet fan ventilation systems typically consist of three ventilation
elements (supply, impulse and discharge) [3]: Supply elements may consist
of access ramp, ventilation shaft, and side wall openings (eventually with the
addition, when necessary, of supply fans).

Jet fans are the impulse elements, necessary to set air into motion towards
the direction of the discharge elements. Discharge elements can be, again,
openings in the walls or shafts (with the addition, when necessary, of extract
fans).However, due to the general shape of car park, the flow can be very
complex and the location, direction and speed of jet fans must be carefully
determined. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) seems to be a helpful
tool in order to predict accurately the expected flow patterns [5].

CO level in an underground car park depends on three major factors:

ventilation, infiltration, and vehicle engine operating time. Rate of
mechanical ventilation is a design value and can be controlled by setting the
speed of fans. Infiltration of an underground car park is either negligible or
can be estimated as a constant. [6] Currently, in the ventilation system, the
jet fans are installed close to the ceiling. The high velocity near the wall
ceiling generates a deflection air tunnel toward the wall and then increases
the wall shear stress in the immediate vicinity of the jet outlet [7].

In this paper, a case study is investigated to focus on the number jet fan
installed with different distribution and the air ventilation quality. The actual
drawing is modeled in commercial CFD software. The simulation boundary
conditions are applied to make sure prediction of the actual operating
condition. The results and discussion leads to conclusion of this study is
explained form velocity distributions.

COMPUTATIONAL MODEL THEORY

2- GOVERNING EQUATIONS
The differential equations governing the conservation of mass, momentum,
and energy can be cast into a general form as:
(   ) 
 J S (1)
t
 
Where J   V      (2)

       
J    U     e X    V     ey
 X    y  (3)
In these equations, φis a general dependent variable (φ=U, V, p and T), ρ is
the mass density,  is the effective diffusion coefficient, V is the velocity


vector, and Sdesignates the volumetric source (or sink) of φ. In Equation (2),


J corresponds to the total flux of φ, i.e., it takes account of both the

convective and diffusive fluxes. For convenience, expressions in the
Cartesian vector notation for steady-state incompressible flow are given
below.
U V
Continuity:   0.0 (4)
x  y
  
Momentum:  (V . ) V    P    2 V (5)

Momentum Equation in Two Directions:

 (UU )  (U V )  P 1  2 U  2V 
    2  2  (6)
x y  x Re   x  y
 (UV )  (V V )  P 1  2 U  2V 
     2 
x y  y Re   2 x  y (7)

Energy:  C P (V . ) T  k  2 T (8)
 (UT )  ( VT ) 1  2 U  2V 
   2  2  (9)
x y Re Pr   x  y

Equations (4-8) above are referred to as the Navier-Stokes equation for the
general constant property incompressible flow of a Newtonian fluid. The
Navier-Stokes equation in the above form constitute a system of two

equations (in two-dimensional flow) with two unknowns, P andV .

COMPUTATIONAL MODEL DEVELOPMENT

Problem Description
The floor area of the car park is about 56050 m2 and has 147 ductless Jet
fans each 5040 m3/hr (see Fig. 1).About 16 supply fans each 142800 m3/hr
supply Fresh and 16 exhaust fans each 142800 m3/hr for extract air in
emergency mode (in the event of a Fire). The objective of the CFD Fire
Simulation study is to predict the flow field distribution in the carpark. The
flow field will be analyzed at four levels (Jet vans center line, 3 m, 2 m and
1m from the floor).

Geometry, grid distribution and boundary conditions

The three dimensional computational domain developed in ANSYS-
FLUENT and GAMBIT software as shown in Fig.1, Fig.2 which also shows
the fully meshed computational domain. The meshing details are given in
Table 1. The type of mesh that has been used is unstructured volumetric
mesh with tetrahedral shape. The size function is used to control size of
mesh element in regions with specified entities. By using size functions,
mesh-interval size and mesh-element size can be limited. Size functions are
almost similar to boundary layers because both control the characteristics of
mesh in the proximity of the entities to which they are attached.
The Figure 3 shows the 300mm diameter jet fan modeled separately to be
united into the car park domain. and Figure 4 for configuration 1 and 2
respectively. figure also show the boundary position of the fresh air inlet and
exhaust. Table 1 shows the simulation parameters used. The boundary values
are also attached . Turbulence is modeled using the buoyancy-augmented “k-
ε” model. In the “k-ε” model, turbulence is represented by the turbulence
kinetic energy k and its rate of dissipation ε.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The simulated cases presented in Fig.4, and indicate the changes in quantity
and direction of jet fans are made in stagnation zones which showed in
Fig.4. and enhancement in the air velocity in these zones is required.

The velocity profile in figures 6,7,8 and 9 shows velocities at four levels (Jet vans
center line, 3 m, 2 m and 1m from the floor) for both basic and modified
case. It is observed that for the basic case the velocity in some regions is
stagnent , which my cause a problem in fire case. This is due to the bad
distribution of the jet fans is some areas and lack of jet fans in some areas.
On another hand the velocity profile shown in all planes for the modified
case , There seems to be hardly any regions of stagnation or regions where
the Mean Age of Air is high.

It is also observed that on the left area and mid area of the car park, it’s very
clear for the basic case that an existence of a big vortice that may pass
through smoke zone and returns to clean zone. But for the modified case
these big votices are cancled or minimized , as a result there will be a good
smoke removal from the car park.

CFD ensures system optimization and, more importantly, that the occupants
safety isn’t compromised. This avoids making a project unnecessarily
expensive by using too many fans, or an under performing system by
specifying too few. A solution consists developing a simple numerical jet
fan model that represented the typical flow pattern produce by the fan. With
systems that makes possible extract smoke near fire source, 100% reversible
systems help on a better control reducing the danger of spread smoke to
other zones.
Numerical simulation CFD helped identify the interaction of the ventilation
system with the wind effect in the openings of the inlet air. When the project
has mechanical extraction and natural air compensation, wind effect can
change completely the smoke extraction efficiency. In this specific project,
in normal conditions, the existing mesh of unidirectional jet fans should be
enough to forward all the smoke to the extraction zone, but the wind effect
was significant, not allowing the perfect ventilation. With the use of
numerical simulation it was possible to obtain one array command able to
react effectively whatever the effect of wind. It was concluded that it should
be installed anemometers in the natural openings measuring speed and
direction of air. This way, it was possible revert the direction of extraction. It
could be made through the “original” extraction fans or through the natural
openings.

CONCLUSION
The results shows that though the fresh air inlet is set to be sufficient to
change the air inside the underground car park, but presence of jet fan is
actually bring a different in dilution and making sure there is no stagnant air
areas inside the car park. The result also shows that application jet fan is a
trial-and –error or iterative manner to identify the suitable number of jet fan
needed for optimum air ventilation quality. During fire a well design
underground car park can manage the smoke to be exhausted out and make
clear pathway not only for evacuation but also for fire brigade to access the
fire point to put out the fire.
Computational Fluid Dynamics is a great tool to help engineers to predict
the flow patterns and to verify the efficiency of ventilation system and
smoke extraction. With this powerful tool, we can detect if spread of smoke
occurs and if exist some death zones very critical to control CO
concentration.

REFERENCES
[1] Fläkt Woods Group, 2008, Specialists in Jet Fan Car Park Ventilation, UK.
[2] Colt International Limited, 2008, Colt Car Park Ventilation Systems, UK.
[3] European Network of Building Research Institutes (ENBRI), September 2001, Smoke
control inside enclosed car parks – CFD study of jet fans - by BRE, Garston, Watford,
Herts.
[4] NICOTRA INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, 2008, JET FANS: AGM & RGM SERIES
for Smoke Extraction & Basement Ventilation, INDIA
[5] Vittorio Betta, Furio Cascetta, Marilena Musto, Giuseppe Rotondo, 2009, Numerical
study of the optimization of the pitch angle of an alternative jet fan in a longitudinal
tunnel ventilation system, Tunneling and Underground Space Technology
[6] J.C.Ho, H.Xue, K.L. Tay, 2004, A field study on determination of carbon monoxide
level and thermal environment in an undergroung car park, Building and Environmen
[7] Joao Carlos Viegas, 2010, The use of impulse ventilation for smoke control in
underground car parks, Tunneling and Underground Space Technology

Table 1:The simulation parameters:

The study is done using CFD code FLUENT and using GAMBIT for
drawing the geometry and mesh generation for all cases.
Hardware used in the study:
All calculations were run on a personal computer with [Intel (R) core
i7 CPU (2.8 GHz, 2.79 GHz), and 6 GB of RAM.]
Mesh
 type A hybrid elements , unstructured grid
 No. of grid 632893
 No f faces 6140960
Turbulence
 For K-ε standard K-epsilon with non-equilibrium wall function
with The following constants
Cmu=0.09 C1- ε =1.44 C2=1.92 TKE=1
Numerical Scheme
 Second order accuracy was used. SIMPLE pressure – velocity
coupling was used.
Convergence criteria
 Should be less than 1e-6

a b

Fig.1: a) Computational domain b) Grid used in simulation

Fig.2: Grid used in simulation with upper walls removed

Fig.3: Jet van inserted within the car park domain

a

Fig.4 : Car Park With Jet Fans Position a) 147 Jet Fan Configuration.
b) 161 modified Jet Fan Configuration.
Fig.5 : Car park supply and exhaust vans posistion
 a

Fig.6 : velocity contours in m/s at jet fans center line a)Basic case b) Modified case
 a

Fig.7 : velocity contours in m/s at 3 m above the floor a)Basic case b) Modified case
 a

Fig.8 : velocity contours in m/s at 2 m above the floor a)Basic case b) Modified case
 a

Fig.9 : velocity contours in m/s at 1 m above the floor a)Basic case b) Modified case

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