CFD Analysis on Thermal Comfort and Energy Consumption Effected by Partitions in Air-Conditioned Building

This paper presents a CFD analysis on thermal comfort and energy consumption effected by partitions in an air-conditioned building. CFD experiments are carried out to simulate variables of indoor air before/after installation or removal of partitions. Accordingly, the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) is determined as an indicator of thermal comfort while the cooling load of make-up air is calculated for energy consumption. Some simulated results are validated by measurements with good agreement where a case study is conducted in an air-conditioned space of a library. With the proposed methodology, it can be recommended in a case study that the significant effects of partition on thermal comfort are observed in the regions where occupants feel warmer and in the regions where occupants feel uncomfortably cool after installing the partition while the energy consumption increases by 24%. The installation of the partition at the desired location is not encouraged regarding to occupant's comfort and energy consumption without modification of the air-conditioning units. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.