Aircraft passenger comfort evaluation: sitting and standing passengers in commercial cabin

Abstract

This research investigates the evaluation of passenger comfort during a cruise airplane trip. The flow fields in the comfort design in commercial aircraft create contour conditions for the diffusers, cabinets and geometry cabin, responsible for providing a healthy environment to the passengers. The objective of this work is to characterize the airflow by measuring the velocity field and the air temperature inside the cabin. Based on the actual data, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed using the Autodesk programming language for the simulations, in order to obtain information about the possible standards of easy and seated comfort for the passengers. The results of particle dispersion in the cockpit showed great influence of the ventilation system and the location in the aircraft where people generate the particles. Based on these results, the internal layout of the BWB2 airplane, also known as “Flying Wing” was projected. The projected cabin furniture features ventilation in order to attend the passenger’s need in flight. It is noted that the incipient individualization of the passenger’s thermal comfort configures one of the biggest problems faced by the airlines. Consequently, It is a possible differential for competition between airlines.