Numerical Simulation on Indoor Thermal Environment of Radiant Flooring Cooling System with Displacement Ventilation

The purpose of this study is to investigate the thermal environment of a radiant floor cooling system using the existing radiant floor heating system. The thermal environment of the model office space was analyzed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method. Two typical air distributions (hybrid air cooling system composed of radiant floor cooling and displacement ventilation and all-air system) were simulated. Installing two human models in the office, the characteristics of heat transportation from the human model were also analyzed. The results show that two air distribution forms can meet the demand of thermal comfort. The operative temperature in the radiant floor cooling system was lower than in the all-air cooling system when each of the sensible cooling loads of the two types of HVAC system was the same.