Numerical Simulation of the Thermal Comfort in Train Cabin

Kurzfassung

Results of numerical simulations of the air flow, including the heat transport, the thermal radiation and the thermal comfort of passengers in a train cabin are presented. The computations have been performed by coupling flow simulations conducted with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code OpenFOAM with finite-element simulations of the heat transport within the passengers using the code THESEUS-FE. With the latter, the bodies of passengers were modelled based on various layers with different heat transport characteristics to account for effects like blood flow, heat transfer through the skin and the clothing, as well as activity levels and ambient humidity. Based on these computations we simulated and analysed the thermal comfort of passengers in the cabin of German Aerospace Centres concept train called Next Generation Train (NGT).