Application of computer simulated persons in indoor environmental modeling

Computer simulated persons are often applied when the indoor environment is modeled by computational fluid dynamics. The computer simulated persons differ in size, shape, and level of geometrical complexity, ranging from simple box or cylinder shaped heat sources to more humanlike models. Little effort, however, has been focused on the influence of the geometry. This work provides an investigation of geometrically different computer simulated persons with respect to both local and global airflow distribution. The results show that a simple geometry is sufficient when the global airflow of a ventilated enclosure is considered, as little or no influence of geometry was observed at some distance from the computer simulated person. For local flow conditions, though, a more detailed geometry should be applied in order to assess thermal and atmospheric comfort.