Achieving an Improved Understanding of Factors Affecting an Aircraft Environmental Control System by Coupling a 1D Cabin Air Distribution System Model with a 3D Passenger Cabin Model using Co-Simulation Middleware

Document Number: 2009-01-3264

Date Published: November 2009

Author(s):
David Kelsall - Flowmaster Ltd.
Abdul Ludhi - Flowmaster Ltd.
Klaus Wolf - FHI-SCAI
Pascal Bayrasy - FHI-SCAI

Abstract:
Aircraft Environmental Control Systems (ECS) are designed to optimize passenger comfort by providing satisfactory cabin pressurization, and temperature and humidity control whilst minimizing the risks to passenger health from airborne toxins and diseases.

The paper presents a case study that investigates how the cooling load discharge from an ECS system affects the flow behavior inside a typical mid-size, wide-body aircraft passenger cabin. The investigation uses commercial off-the-shelf one-dimensional (1D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software to model the cooling pack, cabin air distribution system, and three quarters of the passenger cabin. The center section of the cabin is modeled using a commercial off-the-shelf three-dimensional (3D) CFD package, with the co-simulation middleware providing coupling adapters to ensure that two-way, bilateral exchange of boundary parameters between the 1D and the 3D CFD models gives continuity of mass and momentum transfer. The 1D and 3D CFD applications and co-simulation middleware are supplied by 3 independent commercial organizations.

The results of the case study are discussed including the co-simulated "velocity field of the air discharge" and the "temperature gradient inside the cabin" within the 3D CFD model as well as the flow and temperature fields within the one-dimensional ECS cooling pack model. The paper concludes by discussing how the proper implementation of the co-simulation methods developed in this case study could bring significant benefits to engineering companies using CFD tools, including improved quality of simulation results and reduced simulation run times.

File Size: 625K
Product Status: In Stock

See other papers presented at SAE 2009 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition, November 2009, Seattle, WA, USA, Session: Environment - Aircraft ECS & Cabin Environment (Part 1 of 2)

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