A dispersion study of CO₂ in a closed area

Predictions of air pollution dispersion in an indoor environment are important outputs to control a fresh air ventilation or energy building efficiency. This study deals with numerical simulations of a formation and dispersion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a closed area. Numerical simulations were carried out by the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach. A simple domain with one pollution source was used for a validation of the mathematical model, in which values of the CO₂ concentration were calculated using CFD and measured. The CO₂ was created as a combustion product of the ethanol. There were used two different methods for the calculation of the CO₂ formation. The first method adopted the species transport model with reactions and the second method was the non-premix combustion model based on the mixture fraction theory. The third method used in numerical simulations was a constant mass flow inlet of CO₂. All computational methods provided a sufficient agreement of the CO₂ concentration with the experimental data.