Airflow patterns in a slot-ventilated enclosure partially loaded with empty slotted boxes

A reduced-scale model and CFD predictions were used to investigate experimentally and numerically the airflow patterns within a ceiling-slot ventilated enclosure loaded by slotted boxes. The experiments were carried out with a laser Doppler anemometer. This paper concerns the air velocity characteristics within the jet and outside the boxes. Results make it possible to highlight the confinement effect due to enclosure and the influence of load porosity on the jet penetration, its development and hence the heterogeneity of ventilation within the enclosure. The numerical predictions obtained with the computational fluid dynamics Fluent package using the RSM turbulence model show rather good agreement with experimental data.