Effect of distance between occupants and insulation performance of window on contaminant distribution in a room with displacement ventilation

Abstract

In recent years, displacement ventilation system has received much attention in terms of infectious disease control, due to the epidemic of COVID-19 infections. Plume from occupants and the other heat sources is a very important factor for displacement ventilation because it determines the height of the contaminant stratification. Therefore, this paper aims at the effect of distance between occupants on distribution of temperature, contaminant concentration and plume from occupants in CFD analysis at first. The results suggest the specific distance where plume from occupant interfere with each other in the occupied zone. Our results also indicate that other conditions such as human body posture also affect the interference. In addition, since the aforementioned study don't take into account the influence of the temperature of window surface cooled by outside air, we vary the insulation performance of the window and check the concentration in the occupied area. The results are obtained that the amount of contaminants carried by the downward flow from the window to the lower part of the room depends on the insulation performance of the window, which affects the occupied zone.