Numerical Investigation of Thermal Comfort in an Aircraft Passenger Cabin

Abstract

This study presents the results of a pilot numerical study of the thermal comfort in the aircraft passenger cabin. The computations have been performed using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique. The overall thermal comfort at temperatures of 15 °C – 20 °C was discussed based on the PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PPD (Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied) indexes. Results indicate that the air velocity and its direction toward the passengers have a considerable impact on their thermal comfort. However, a small variation in temperature has a limited effect on thermal sensation and thus do not jeopardize the overall thermal comfort.

Keywords

• Aircraft Passenger Cabin
• Thermal Comfort
• Numerical Simulation
• PMV (Predicted Mean Vote)
• PPD (Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied)