Adjusting Ventilation for Heat Control in an Industrial Building Using Computational Fluid Dynamics: Case Study of a Heat Treatment Plant in Automobile Industry

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Kritana Prueksakorn
Phatra Samerwong
Thunyapat Sattraburut
Hyunchul Ha
Kwangseog Ahn
Taehyeung Kim

Abstract

Heat strain is a serious health issue in many manufacturing industries, including steel plants, foundries, and automobile industries. This research attempts to control the high temperatures in a heat treatment plant of automobile industry whose existing ventilation methods were insufficient to address the heat-related problems. Preliminary studies were carried out to determine the existing temperatures and air velocities, the effectiveness of the ventilation measures and the problems associated with the heat processes. The obtained data were fed into a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model with initial and boundary conditions, used to predict the temperature and airflow inside the building. Five additional building models were created, each adding different thermal control and ventilation measures to the initial configuration. Based on the simulations from CFD, a model with windows, ventilators, enclosures, and jet fans was selected as the best case. This ventilation system was then physically installed in the building. The performance of the real system was measured and compared to the predicted values. A good correlation was found between the numerical simulation and the experimental results; the temperature differences between the values at 1.5 m, 3 m and 4.5 m above the ground were 1.8%, 2.7% and 3.3%, respectively. The final ventilation solution was able to decrease the average temperature by 5.3°C and increase the average air velocity by 1.5 m/s. This study demonstrates how numerical modeling and building ventilation solutions can be effectively used to solve the problem of high temperatures in an indoor industrial environment.

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