Increased Passenger Density in a Long-Range Aircraft Cabin Mock-Up at Mixing Ventilation

Abstract

Increasing the seating density is a powerful tool to enhance the economic and ecologic performance of a passenger aircraft. To investigate changes in cabin ventilation, comfort and air quality, two increased seating densities (4-5-4 and 4-6-4) were compared with the 3-4-3 configuration well-known in long-range aircraft. As benchmark case, a generic mixing ventilation (MV) scenario, which is state-of-the-art in aircraft cabins, was investigated under static flight conditions in a full-scale twin aisle cabin mock-up at various flow rates. First results obtained at a constant airflow rate show a weak, but existing effect of the different seating configurations on the equivalent temperatures (determined for the individual body segments), i.e. the local thermal comfort for an aisle seat. Additional measurements were carried out with adjusted flow rates, which can be used to determine possible energy savings with the same level of comfort.