Abstract
It is necessary to evaluation the heat transfer characteristics of a passenger inside a vehicle to ensure thermal comfort. In recent times, CFD verifications have been widely used to accurately predict the heat transfer coefficient of a thermal manikin. The SST k-ω turbulence model has been shown to predict the convective heat transfer coefficient of the whole body of a manikin. However, this model does not always give good accuracy for each body part, and the reasons for the same have not yet been discussed well. This study discusses the potential and limitations of the SST k-ω model by focusing on the flow structure and flow type on the manikin surface. It is found that a simple flow type such as free convection or forced convection can be predicted well. On the other hand, prediction was difficult for some body parts that include different areas exposed to forced convection and free convection because of the interaction of the flow and the impact of both forced convection and free convection on the predicted value, of which the latter is dominant.
KEYWORDS – Convective heat transfer coefficient, Thermal manikin, CFD, SST k-ω model, Regional forced convection