On the Possibility of CFD Modeling of the Indoor Environment in a Vehicle

Prediction of thermal conditions inside a vehicle cabin is still a challenge due to the fast transient behaviour of physical factors influencing the boundaries of the vehicular space. In order to gain knowledge and to propose new models of air flow and thermal characteristics on one hand and new adapted thermal comfort indices on the other hand, researchers need to perform parametric studies. In this case a CFD model can be a very powerful tool which let us simulate the environmental conditions in the vehicle cabin and test different strategies of ventilation and their impact on human thermal comfort. The challenge when using a CFD software is to produce results that can be trusted. This study tries to evaluate a simple approach of calibrating and validating a CFD model that reproduces the thermal environment and the flow dynamics inside a vehicular cabin. As this study is a part of a project intended to evaluate different strategies of cabin ventilation from the point of view of the thermal comfort, we will compare experimental data regarding air velocities and temperatures as well as the corresponding local comfort indices.