The Influence of the Arrangement of Passenger Cars in Indoor Car Parks on CFD Calculations

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to present the results of research on the influence of the arrangement of passenger cars in specific parking spaces inside an indoor car park on the numerical values obtained in CFD simulations of physical parameters such as smoke density and air/smoke stream velocity. In order to distribute cars randomly, a computer program was developed using a pseudorandom method to determine the type of vehicle as well as the position of the car in the indoor car park. Project and methods: CFD calculations in Ansys Fluent 14.5. Results: On analysis, the results demonstrate that the size of vortices and their velocity after forming inside the indoor car park space have a significant impact on the mass concentration of smoke in the analysed area. In the course of the calculations, it was also observed that in comparing scenarios with the same number of vehicles, the method of assessment is significantly affected by the location of formation of the main air stream arriving from the air supply duct. Conclusions: In the case of indoor car parks with a complicated shape or low height, less than 2.9 m, it is recommended to perform additional numerical calculations taking into account different numbers of vehicles and their locations in the indoor car park. Additional simulations can be limited to cases where the occupancy of parking spaces in the indoor car park will be 0% (except for the car being the ignition source), 40-50% and 100%. The provided occupancy rates are based on the analysed calculation series, where the differences in the results were the most noticeable and significant in the as-sessment process. Scenario results will vary more if the fire curves initiated at the beginning have higher HRR and as a result more smoke and heat are released within the indoor car park. Therefore, in such cases, it is important to assess the risk of impact of the parking space occupancy rate on the results before proceed-ing to final numerical calculations. The simulations presented in this study demonstrate that at 1.4MW fires in the initial phase of fire development, the conditions prevailing in the indoor car park can change significantly. In a situation where the velocities on the mechanical ventilation grilles are over 2.5 m/s, and parked vehicles are located in the vicinity of the compensation inlet, it is important to perform numerical calculations for an empty indoor car park as well as for the scenario with cars parked at these crucial points. The results obtained from this series of calculations may vary significantly, so it is reasonable to include such cases in the analyses.

Keywords

• CFD simulations
• fire ventilation
• indoor car park
• thrust ventilation