A study of the air quality in the breathing zone in a room with displacement ventilation

Abstract This paper is concerned with the difference in the air quality that is perceived by the occupants (breathing zone) and that existing in the occupied zone as a whole. An environmental chamber with displacement ventilation system has been used to carry out the measurements with the presence of a heated mannequin and other heat sources. Measurements of the age of air distribution, the air exchange index and the ventilation effectiveness were carried out at different points in the chamber for different room thermal loads. CFD simulations were also carried out for the purpose of flow visualisation as well as the calculation of air velocity, temperature and age of air distribution. In addition, CFD simulations were carried out to study the effect of changing the airflow rate to the chamber and the position of air inlet to extend the range of parameters. The results from the CFD simulations were compared with those from measurements and good agreement was obtained in most cases.