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This paper presents the basic test data obtained from tests of a cabin air distribution system in a simulated Space Station Man-Tended Capability (MTC) configuration and correlations of some of this data with the results from analytical modeling of the test setup flow conditions. The MTC configuration simulated in the test setup includes: Lab-A, the Node, the Cupola, and the Pressurized Module Adaptor (PMA). The test data and analytical data presented are confined to those for the Lab module. The cabin air distribution system controls the flow of air in the open space of a Space Station module. In order to meet crew comfort criteria the local velocities for this cabin air are required to be distributed within a specified range with upper and lower limits.

Ventilation characteristics of the Columbus module are numerically predicted on the basis of the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) approaches. Effects of air supply diffuser modeling on computed flow are analyzed. An “effective diffuser” model that considerably reduces the number of computational cells for Columbus CFD ventilation analysis is proposed and tested. The computational models are verified by a comparison with the experimental data available. Special attention is paid to distinctions in fields of the time-averaged absolute velocity magnitude and the whole mean velocity that are due to the contribution of large-scale fluctuations. A technique to evaluate spatial distribution of the time-averaged absolute velocity magnitude using data of RANS steady-state predictions is suggested.