D2

Hospital Room

Some of the features used in this tutorial are available for the HVAC module users only.

Problem Statement

This tutorial demonstrates the capability of Flow Simulation to predict the performance of
a building ventilation system and to estimate air quality and general thermal sensation by
calculating comfort criteria. It is shown how to define a project, i.e. specify the heat
sources, boundary conditions and calculation goals, and how to obtain values of comfort
criteria.
Here we consider a hospital isolation room and estimate the ventilation system
effectiveness with respect to the contaminant removal and thermal satisfaction of people
in the room. A typical patient room includes standard features such as a patient bed,
exhausts, lightening, equipment. The overhead ventilation system contains an overhead
ceiling supply diffuser, the ceiling and the washroom exhausts. The contaminant source is
assumed to be the patient breathing. The heat sources are lights, a medical equipment, a
TV, a patient and a caregiver.

Flow Simulation 2012 Tutorial D2-1

HVAC Module: D2 - Hospital Room

The ventilation system and the patient room features are shown at the figure below.
Washroom exhaust vent grille Forced air removal

Ceiling lights

Forced inlet
fresh air flow

Caregiver

Hospital
equipment

Patient TV set

The following parameters are used to estimate the ventilation system effectiveness with
respect to contaminant removal: Contaminant Removal Effectiveness (CRE) and Local
Air Quality Index (LAQI).
The following parameters are used to estimate the ventilation system effectiveness with
respect to thermal satisfaction of people: Air Diffusion Performance Index (ADPI),
Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percent Dissatisfied (PPD).

Model Configuration

Copy the D2 - Hospital Room folder into your working directory. Open the Hospital
room.SLDASM assembly.

D2-2
Project Definition

Using the Wizard create a new project as follows:

Project Configuration Use current

Unit system SI, units for Temperature: °C (Celsius)

Analysis type Internal

Exclude cavities without flow conditions

Physical features Gravity: Y component of -9.81 m/s^2

Default fluid Gases / Air

Gases / Expired Air (user-defined)
Click New and in the Engineering Database create
a new item named Expired Air by copy-pasting
the pre-defined Air, available under
Materials\Gases\Pre-Defined, to the
Materials\Gases\User Defined folder

Wall Conditions Default

Initial Conditions Thermodynamic parameters:

Temperature of 19.5°C
Concentration:
Mass fraction of Air is 1
Mass fraction of Expired air is 0

Result and Geometry Resolution Default Result resolution level of 3

Boundary Conditions

Specify the inlet and outlet boundary conditions as shown in the tables below:

Type Inlet Volume Flow

Name Inlet Volume Flow 1

Faces to apply the inner face of the Room

component (the one above
the hospital equipment table)

Forced inlet fresh air flow

Parameters:
Volume Flow Rate Normal To Face
of 4.8 m^3/min

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HVAC Module: D2 - Hospital Room

Type Outlet Volume Flow

Name Outlet Volume Flow 1

Faces to apply the inner face of the Room

component (the one near the
window)

Forced air removal

Parameters:
Volume Flow Rate Normal To Face
of 2.6 m^3/min

Type Environment Pressure

Name Environment Pressure 1

Faces to apply the inner face of the Room

component, as shown

Washroom exhaust vent grille

Thermodynamic Parameters:
Default values (101325 Pa and 19.5°C)

Type Inlet Volume Flow

Name Inlet Volume Flow 2

Faces to apply a face of the Patient

component, representing the
patient’s mouth, as shown

Contaminated expired air

Parameters:
Volume Flow Rate Normal To Face
of 12 l/min
Substance Concentrations:
Mass fraction of Air is 0
Mass fraction of Expired Air is 1

D2-4
Specifying Heat Sources

There are several heat sources in the hospital room: ceiling lights, a TV set and hospital
equipment. The caregiver and the patient are the sources of heat also. The amount of heat
produced by a human body depends on the kind of activity the person is involved in. A
patient laying on the bed produces significantly less heat than a caregiver, whose work
requires physical activity and concentration.
Since we do not consider heat conduction in solids in this simulation, we use surface heat
sources with the fixed heat transfer rate.
Click Flow Simulation, Insert, Surface Source.
1 In the Flyout FeatureManager Design tree, select the Patient component. All faces of

the component are selected as Faces to Apply the Surface Source . However, the
Patient component is partially submerged into the bed and some faces are not in
contact with the fluid, so we need to remove such faces with filter.

2 Click Filter Faces . Select Keep outer faces and fluid-contacting faces and
click Filter.
3 Manually remove the face representing the
patient mouth by selecting it in the graphics
area. We have to exclude this face since there
is a boundary condition already specified on
it.
4 Under Parameter specify Heat Transfer
Rate of 81 W .

5 Click OK .
Rename the created heat sorce to Patient.
In the same way specify the surface heat source
of 144 W at all faces of the Caregiver component. Use the Filter Faces tool to only select
faces which are in contact with the fluid. Since there is no boundary condition specified at
the Caregiver component, you do not need to manually exclude any faces.
Rename the created heat sorce to Caregiver.

Flow Simulation 2012 Tutorial D2-5

HVAC Module: D2 - Hospital Room

Other sources of heat are not represented by separate components, but by cuts and
extrudes made on the Room component. Use the tables below as a reference to specify the
remaining heat sources:

Type Surface Heat Source

Name Ceiling Lights

Faces to apply both inner faces of the Room

component representing the
ceiling lights

Parameters:
Heat Transfer Rate of 120 W

Type Surface Heat Source

Name TV Set

Faces to apply all inner faces of the Room

component representing the
TV set

Parameters:
Heat Transfer Rate of 50 W

Type Surface Heat Source

Name Hospital Equipment

Faces to apply all inner faces of the Room

component representing the
hospital equipment

Parameters:
Heat Transfer Rate of 50 W

D2-6
Specifying Calculation Control Options

By default, calculation of comfort parameters is disabled in Flow Simulation to save the

CPU time and memory resources. Besides comfort parameters, Flow Simulation is
capable of calculating Local Mean Age (LMA) and Local Air Change Index(LACI)
parameters:
• LMA is the average time for fluid to travel from the selected inlet opening to the
point considering both the velocity and diffusion.
• LACI (Local Air Change Index) is the ratio of the V/Q value, where V is the
computational domain fluid volume and Q is the volume flow rate of the fluid
entering this volume, to the average time τ for the fluid to travel from the selected
inlet opening to the point considering both the velocity and diffusion.
Calculation of comfort parameters, LMA and LACI can be enabled in the Calculation
Control Options dialog.
1 Click Flow Simulation, Calculation Control Options.
2 Switch to the Advanced tab.
3 Select the Calculate Local Mean Age (LMA)
and Calculate Comfort Parameters check
boxes.

Selecting Calculate Local Mean Age (LMA)

check box enables calculation of LMA,
Dimensionless LMA and LACI.
4 Click OK.

Specifying Goals

Specify global goals of Av Mean Radiant

Temperature, Av Operative Temperature, Av
Velocity and Av Volume Fraction of Expired
Air.

You can use Mean Radiant Temperature and Operative Temperature as the goal
parameters only after you enable calculation of comfort parameters in the Calculation
Control Options dialog.

Flow Simulation 2012 Tutorial D2-7

HVAC Module: D2 - Hospital Room

Adjusting Initial Mesh

1 Click Flow Simulation , Initial Mesh.

2 Select the Manual specification of the minimum gap size
check box.
You can see that Flow Simulation determined the Minimum
gap size value as 0.012 m, which is equal to the width of the
face representing the patient’s mouth (12 mm).

3 Select the Manual specification of

the minimum gap wall thickness
check box.
You can see that the value of
Minimum wall thickness,
determined by Flow Simulation, is
too small, which can lead to
unnecessary mesh refinement and
increased amount of memory
required for calculation.
To avoid this, specify the value of
Minimum wall thickness equal to
Minimum gap size of 0.012 m.
4 Click OK to save the initial mesh
settings and close the dialog.

Setting Local Initial Mesh

To better resolve the complex geometry of the Caregiver and Patient components and
more accurately account the heat produced by the heat sources specified at these
components, we employ the local initial mesh refinement.
1 Click Flow Simulation , Insert, Local Initial Mesh.
2 In the FeatureManager Design Tree, select the Caregiver and Patient components.
3 Clear the Automatic settings check box. Go to the Solid/Fluid Interface tab.
4 Set Small solid features refinement level to 4.
5 Go to the Refining Cells tab. Select Refine fluid cells and set Level of refining fluid
cells to 2.
6 Click OK to save local mesh settings.

Run the calculation. During the calculation proccess you may notice that the Av Volume
Fraction of Expired Air goal converges slower than the other goals specified. Since this is
a tutorial example, there may be not need to wait before the solution fully converges. To
save the CPU time, you can stop the calculation earlier, for example when all the other
specified goals converge.

D2-8
Results

Overview of Comfort Parameters

It is a common practice to assess the performance of a ventilation system by some
standard criteria, named comfort parameters. With Flow Simulation you can simulate
various environments and get the values of comfort parameters, determining whether the
air quality and temperature are safe and comfortable for people working or living in these
environments. Later we will use Flow Simulation results processing tools to see and
analyze the values of comfort parameters obtained in the calculation.
The following two parameters are used to assess the ventilation system effectiveness in
contaminated air removing:
• Contaminant Removal Effectiveness (CRE). This parameter is an index that
provides information on the effectiveness of a ventilation system in removing
contaminated air from the whole space. For a perfect mixing system CRE = 1.
Values above 1 are good, values below 1 are poor.
• Local Air Quality Index (LAQI) is an index that provides information on the
effectiveness of a ventilation system in removing contaminated air from a local
point.
The following several parameters are used to estimate the ventilation system effectiveness
with respect to the thermal satisfaction of people in the ventilated area:
• Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) is the uniform surface temperature of an
imaginary black enclosure in which an occupant would exchange the same amount
of radiant heat as in the actual non-uniform space.
• Operative Temperature is the uniform temperature of an imaginary black
enclosure, in which an occupant would exchange the same amount of heat by
radiation plus convection as in the actual non-uniform environment.
• Draft Temperature is the difference in temperature between any point in the
occupied zone and the control condition. "Draft" is defined as any localized feeling
of coolness or warmth of any portion of the body due to both air movement and air
temperature, with humidity and radiation considered constant.
• Air Diffusion Performance Index (ADPI) is the percentage of the space in which
the air speed is less than 0.35 m/s and the Draft Temperature falls between -1.7 °C
and 1.1 °C.

Note:If Draft Temperature or ADPI is calculated as Volume Parameters, the

reference space or zone is the specified volume region. In all other cases the
whole computational domain is considered.

• Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) is an index that predicts the mean value of the votes
of a large group of persons on the 7-point thermal sensation scale, based on the heat

Flow Simulation 2012 Tutorial D2-9

HVAC Module: D2 - Hospital Room

balance of the human body. Thermal balance is obtained when the internal heat
production in the body is equal to the loss of heat to the environment.
slightly slightly
cold cool cool neutral warm warm hot

-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3

• Predicted Percent Dissatisfied (PPD) is an index that provides information on

thermal discomfort or thermal dissatisfaction by predicting the percentage of people
likely to feel too warm or too cool in a given environment.

Obtaining CRE Value

You can see the calculated value of the Contaminant Removal Effectiveness (CRE) in the
calculation results summary.
In the Analysis tree, right-click the Results icon and
select Summary.
You can see the CRE of Expired Air value at the
bottom of the Results Summary page, in the
Comfort Parameters section. The value of CRE of
Expired Air is higher than 1, which means that the
ventilation system is reasonably effective in
removing the contaminated air.

Volume Parameters
We can obtain the values of thermal satisfaction parameters with the Volume Parameters
results processing feature. However, we need to define the volume, in which the
parameters will be calculated. In our case, this volume is the entire fluid region within the
computational domain. We can easily create a component representing the entire fluid
region with the Check Geometry tool.

D2-10
 1 Click Flow Simulation, Tools, Check Geometry.
2 Select the Create fluid body assembly check box
to create a new assembly including all fluid
regions of the model as solid components. The
fluid body assembly is stored in the Directory for
temporary geometry, specified in the Flow
Simulation Options dialog under General
Options, available by clicking Flow Simulation,
Tools, Options.
3 Click Check to create the fluid body assembly.
When the operation is completed, close the Check
Geometry dialog.
4 Save the Part1 component from the newly created
assembly as Fluid Volume.SLDPRT and add it to
the project assembly.
5 Click Flow Simulation, Component Control and Disable the newly added Fluid
Volume component. Click OK.
We also need to check the values of reference parameters: metabolic rate, external work,
closing thermal resistance and relative humidity, used to calculate comfort parameters
such as PMV and PPD. These reference parameters define the approximate heat power
produced by a human body depending on the activity and health condition, insulating
properties of the closing and humidity of the air.
1 Click Flow Simulation, Results, Default Reference Parameters.
2 Specify Metabolic rate of
100 W/m^2. Keep the other values default.

The closing thermal resistance of 0.11

K·m2/W corresponds to a light working
ensemble: light underwear, cotton work
shirt with long sleeves, work trousers,
woolen socks and shoes. The definition of
clothing insulation relates to heat transfer
from the whole body and, thus, also
includes the uncovered parts of the body,
such as head and hands.

The relative humidity of 55% is typical for indoor conditions. If the relative humidity is
considered in the analysis (the Humidity option is selected in the General Settings),
the actual calculated value of the relative humidity is used as the reference parameter.
3 Click OK.

Now we can use the Volume Parameters feature to see the values of comfort parameters.

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HVAC Module: D2 - Hospital Room

1 In the Flow Simulation Analysis tree right-click the Volume Parameters icon and
select Insert.
2 In the Flyout FeatureManager Design tree, select the Fluid Volume component.
3 Under Parameters click More Parameters. The Customize Parameter List dialog
appears.
4 Expand the Comfort Parameters item and select the following parameters:
• Mean Radiant Temperature,
• Operative Temperature,
• PMV,
• PPD,
• Draft Temperature
• LAQI of Air,
• LAQI of Expired Air.
5 Click OK to close the Display Parameters dialog.
6 In the Volume Parameters dialog make sure that the selected parameters are also
selected as the Parameters to Evaluate under Parameters. Additionally select the
ADPI parameter.
7 Click Export to Excel. A spreadsheet with the selected parameters values appears.

Parameter Average Bulk Average Volume [m^3]

Mean Radiant Temperature [°C] 23.9847308 23.9811646 41.8581029
Operativ e Temperature [°C] 23.4965288 23.4930785 41.8581029
PMV [ ] 0.721211205 0.720537619 41.8581029
PPD [%] 17.0303015 17.0086269 41.8581029
Draf t Temperature [K] 0.721984015 0.718661076 41.8581029

Parameter V alue
A DPI [% ] 63.4301412

D2-12
 Cut Plots and Isosurfaces
To see how the quality of air with respect to the contained contaminant changes through
the room, we create a cut plot by the LAQI of Expired Air parameter at the distance of
1 m from the floor - i.e. slightly above the level of the patient’s head. The higher the value,
the less the concentration of the contaminant and better it is removed.

The isosurfaces of PMV at 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 allows us to estimate the level of
thermal comfort through the room - from 0 (normal) to +1 (slightly warm).

Flow Simulation 2012 Tutorial D2-13