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Research Article

Comparison of STAR-CCM+ and ANSYS Fluent for simulating indoor airflows

Ying Zou1, Xingwang Zhao1, Qingyan Chen2,1()
 Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
 School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
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Abstract

Suitable air distributions are essential for creating thermally comfortable and healthy conditions in indoor spaces. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is widely used to predict air distributions. This study systematically assessed the performance of the two most popular CFD programs, STAR-CCM+ and ANSYS Fluent, in predicting air distributions. The assessment used the same meshes and thermo-fluid boundary conditions for several types of airflow found in indoor spaces, and experimental data from the literature. The programs were compared in terms of grid-independent solutions; turbulent viscosity calculations; heat transfer coefficients as determined by wall functions; and complex flow with complicated boundary conditions. The two programs produced almost the same results with similar computing effort, although ANSYS Fluent seemed slightly better in some aspects.

Keywords

CFDgridwall functionturbulent viscosityboundary conditions

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Building Simulation
Volume 11 Issue 1,
February 2018
Pages 165-174
DOI: 10.1007/s12273-017-0378-8
Cite this article:
Zou Y, Zhao X, Chen Q. Comparison of STAR-CCM+ and ANSYS Fluent for simulating indoor airflows. Building Simulation, 2018, 11(1): 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-017-0378-8
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