This study presents air distribution systems that are based on confluent jets; this system can be of interest for the establishment of indoor environments, to fulfill the goals of indoor climate and energy-efficient usage. The main objective of this study is to provide deeper understanding of the flow field development of a supply device that is designed based on wall confluent jets and to investigate the ventilation performance by experimental and numerical methods. In this study, the supply device can be described as an array of round jets on a flat surface attached to a side wall. Multiple round jets that issue from supply device apertures are combined at a certain distance downstream from the device and behave as a united jet or so-called confluent jets. Multiple round jets that are generated from the supply device move downward and are attached to the wall at the primary region, due to the Coanda effect, and then they become wall confluent jets until the floor wall is reached. A wall jet in a secondary region is formed along the floor after the stagnation region. The characteristics of the flow field and the ventilation performance of conventional wall confluent jets and modified wall confluent jets supply devices are investigated experimentally in an office test room. The study of the modified wall confluent jets is intended to improve the efficiency of the conventional one while maintaining acceptable thermal comfort in an office environment. The results show that the modified wall confluent jets supply device can provide acceptable thermal comfort for the occupant with lower airflow rate compared to the conventional wall confluent jets supply device. Numerical predictions using three turbulence models (renormalization group (RNG k– ε), realizable (Re k– ε), and shear stress transport (SST k– ω) are evaluated by measurement results. The computational box and nozzle plate models are used to model the inlet boundary conditions of the nozzle device. In the isothermal study, the wall confluent jets in the primary region and the wall jet in the secondary region, when predicted by the three turbulence models, are in good agreement with the measurements. The non-isothermal validation studies show that the SST k– ω model is slightly better at predicting the wall confluent jets than the other two models. The SST k– ω model is used to investigate the effects of the nozzle diameter, number of nozzles, nozzle array configuration, and inlet discharge height on the ventilation performance of the proposed wall confluent jets supply device. The nozzle diameter and number of nozzles play important roles in determining the airflow pattern, temperature field, and draught distribution. Increased temperature stratification and less draught distribution are achieved by increasing the nozzle diameter and number of nozzles. The supply device with smaller nozzle diameters and fewer nozzles yields rather uniform temperature distribution due to the dominant effect of mixing. The flow behavior is nearly independent of the inlet discharge height for the studied range. The proposed wall confluent jets supply device is compared with a mixing supply device, impinging supply device and displacement supply device. The results show that the proposed wall confluent jets supply device has the combined behavior of both mixing and stratification principles. The proposed wall confluent jets supply device provides better overall ventilation performance than the mixing and displacement supply devices used in this study. This study covers also another application of confluent jets that is based on impinging technology. The supply device under consideration has an array of round jets on a curve. Multiple jets issue from the supply device aperture, in which the supply device is positioned vertically and the jets are directed against a target wall. The flow behavior and ventilation performance of the impinging confluent jets supply device is studied experimentally in an industrial premise. The results show that the impinging confluent jets supply device maintains acceptable thermal comfort in the occupied zone by creating well-distributed airflow during cold and hot seasons.

In recent years, application of confluent jets for design of ventilation supply devices has been studied. Similarly, numerus studies have been made on the potential and application of variable air volume (VAV) in order to reduce the energy demand of ventilation systems. This study investigates the combination of supply devices based on confluent jets and VAV, both in terms of the nearfield flow behavior of the device and the impact on thermal comfort, indoor air quality and energy efficiency on a classroom-level space when the airflow rate is varied. The method used in this study is an experimental field study where the confluent jets-based supply devices were compared to the previously installed displacement ventilation. The field study evaluated the energy efficiency, thermal comfort and indoor air quality of the two systems. In the case of the confluent jets supply devices, airflow rate was varied in order to see what impact the variation had on the performance of the system for each airflow rate. Furthermore, the confluent jets supply devices were investigated both experimentally and numerically in a well insulated test room to get high resolution data on the particular flow characteristics for this type of supply device when the airflow rate is varied. The results from the field study show nearly uniform distribution of the local mean age of air in the occupied zone, even in the cases of relatively low airflow rates. The airflow rates have no significant effect on the degree of mixing. The thermal comfort in the classroom was increased when the airflow rate was adapted to the heat load compared to the displacement system. The results lead to the conclusion that the combination of supply devices based on confluent jets can reduce energy usage in the school while maintaining indoor air quality and increasing the thermal comfort in the occupied zone. The results from the experimental and numerical study show that the flow pattern and velocity in each nozzle is directly dependent on the total airflow rate. However, the flow pattern does not vary between the three different airflow rates. The numerical investigation shows that velocity profiles for each nozzle have the same pattern regardless of the airflow rate, but the magnitude of the velocity profile increases as the airflow increases. Thus, a supply device of this kind could be used for variable air volume and produce confluent jets for different airflow rates. The results from both studies show that the airflow rate does not affect the distribution of the airflow on both near-field and room level. The distribution of air is nearly uniform in the case of the near-field results and the room-level measurement shows a completely uniform degree of mixing and air quality in the occupied zone for each airflow rate. This means that there is potential for combining these two schemes for designing air distribution systems with high energy efficiency and high thermal comfort and indoor air quality. / Under senare tid har applikation av Confluent jets för design av tilluftsdon studerats. Många studier har även utförts över potentialen av att applicera variabelt luftflöde (VAV) för att minska energianvändningen i ventilationssystem. Denna studie undersöker möjligheten att kombinera Confluent jets-don med VAV, både med avseende på den lokala flödesbilden och dess påverkan på termisk komfort, luftkvalitet och energieffektivitet i en klassrumsmiljö där luftflödes varieras. Denna studie baseras dels på en experimentell fältstudie där tilluftsdon baserade på Confluents jets jämfördes med befintliga deplacerande tilluftsdon. Fältstudien utvärderade energieffektiviteten, den termiska komforten och luftkvaliteten för båda typerna av tillluftsdon. Confluent jets-donen testades under varierat luftflöde för att se påverkan av flödesvariationen på ventilationens prestation under de olika flödena. Utöver fältstudien testades Confluent jets-donen experimentellt och numeriskt i ett välisolerat test-rum för få den detaljerade flödeskarakteristiken för den här typen tilluftsdon vid varierat luftflöde. Resultaten från fältstudien visar på en jämn fördelning av den lokala luftsmedelåldern i vistelsezonen, även för fallen med relativt låga luftflöden. Luftflöden har ingen signifikant effekt på omblandningen. Den termiska komforten i klassrummet ökade när luftflödet anpassades efter värmelasten jämfört med de deplacerande donen. Slutsatsen från fältstudien är att kombinationen av VAV och Confluent jets-don kan användas för att minska energianvändningen på skolan och bevara luftkvaliteten och den termiska komforten i vistelsezonen. Resultaten från den experimental och numeriska studien visar luftflödet och lufthastigheten i varje enskild dysa är direkt beroende på det totala luftflödet genom donet. Dock är flödesfördelningen mellan dysorna oberoende av de tre olika luftflödena. Den numeriska undersökningen visar att flödesprofilen för varje dysa är konstant trots att flödet varieras, men amplituden för varje profil ökar med en höjning av luftflödet. Det betyder att tilluftsdon av den här typen kan användas med VAV för att producera Confluent jets för olika luftflöden. Resultaten från båda studierna visar att luftflöde inte påverkar fördelningen av luften vare sig längs luftdonen eller på rumsnivå. Fördelningen av luften är nästan helt jämn längs donen och på rumsnivå är omblandningen och luftkvalitet den samma för varje luftflöde. Det betyder att det finns potential för att kombinera det här två teknikerna för att designa luftdistribueringssystem med hög energieffektivitet och hög termisk komfort med god luftkvalitet.