Particle image velocimetry investigation on air distribution of surface-source buoyancy plume changing heating intensity and structure size in a thermostatic chamber

For large space buildings like industrial plants with huge heat generation, the role that surface-source plumes play becomes more crucial. To study the air distribution and movement of plumes, the first step is to quantify how the airflow gets distributed in chambers. The experiment was carried out in a thermostatic chamber where there was no ventilation. Four hundred flow field snapshots (in each region) were measured by a two-dimensional particle image velocimetry system at a sampling frequency of 3 Hz, and the time-average flow field was processed by the adaptive correlation algorithm to quantify the air distribution of the plume. According to the measured data, the variation law of the axial velocity of the surface-source plume under different heat source parameters was analysed. The formula coefficients of the axial velocity, the extended radius and the mass flow of the plume were discussed, and the coefficients from current two mainstream methods and those obtained in this paper were compared. The results of this study will be useful to predict motion of surface-plumes and optimize airflow patterns in large spaces.