Understanding the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics within a vehicle compartment is very important for controlling the effect of major design parameters. Also, adequate visibility through the vehicle windshield over the entire driving period is of paramount practical significance. The numerical solution was done by an operation friendly, fast and accurate CFD code - SC/Tetra with a full scale model of a SM3 car and turbulence was modeled by the standard k-e equation. Numerical analysis of the three-dimensional model predicts a detailed description of fluid flow and temperature distribution in the passenger compartment and on the inside windshield screen. During the cooling period, the lowest temperature is observed in the lower part of the windshield and in the vicinity of the defroster griller. It was found that the temperature dropped down to a comfortable range almost linearly at the initial stage. The initial period to achieve this comfortable range is dependent on the inlet velocity. Experimental investigations are performed to determine the localized thermal comfort and further validation of the numerical results.
展开▼
