Submitted to CFD01 – Annual Conference of Canadian CFD Society, Waterloo, May , 2001

Analysis of Flow Patterns and Heat Transfer in a

Generic Passenger Car Mini-Environment

A. Aleksandrov, V. Kudriavtsev
(CFD Canada/CERCA, Montreal)
Marcelo Reggio (Ecole Polytechnique)

High levels of vehicle comfort are being increasingly demanded by customers. This creates a new
challenge for climate control engineers. In the past, it typically took a year to develop and fully
characterize the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system for a new model vehicle
using conventional physical testing methods. Use of new computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
simulators can dramatically reduce time of development of automotive HVAC systems, contribute
to improvement of their performance and provide better understanding of underlying processes.

In this paper, we use computer simulations to optimize passenger vehicle internal climate control
and the impact of external conditions, such as weather conditions and vehicle velocity on indoor
climate and comfort parameters.

We will consider fully enclosed passenger area, car with partially opened windows, several
combinations of hot/cold inlets and of air drain/vent exit pathways (see Fig. 1). Shear stress and
pressure buildup near passenger’s face will be used to study comfort issues.

Figure 1. Grid and Schematics

To perform computations, CFD-ACE+, a multidisciplinary CFD and heat transfer software, is

used. Preliminary results (Fig.2) demonstrate considerable influence of air vent outlets on overall
flow and heat transfer inside the cabin. We also find great influences of external flow on air
circulation patterns (with opened windows), and on heat transfer near the front and rear windows.
Figure 3 illustrates how placement of exhaust vent can impact circulation pattern and leads to
stagnation and flow starvation regime on the rear seats.

A. Alexandrov, V. Kudriavtsev, M. Reggio CFD Canada & CERCA

Submitted to CFD01 – Annual Conference of Canadian CFD Society, Waterloo, May , 2001

Figure 2. Schematics of Coupled External and Internal Flow problems

Figure 3. Internal flow Detail

Presented results will be very useful to professionals involved in designing vehicle cabins and HVAC
systems and will be the first to consider coupled external/internal heat transfer and flow for
passenger cars.

Contact address: Vladimir Kudriavtsev, CFD Canada

vvk@cfdcanada.com
50 Graydon Hall drive, ste 401
Toronto, Canada M3A 3A3
Ph/Fax 416-441-0803

A. Alexandrov, V. Kudriavtsev, M. Reggio CFD Canada & CERCA