AFT Application Topics

HVAC, or Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems, are systems that consist of equipment that controls indoor and vehicular environmental conditions.

Because HVAC systems can consist of the transfer of several types of fluids at varying temperatures, incompressible flow, compressible flow, and heat transfer may all need to be modeled to fully capture the system’s behavior. AFT software can handle these requirements.

AFT’s compressible flow software, AFT Arrow, is capable of handling high velocity air systems in which compressible effects cannot be ignored. Because HVAC systems often consist of low velocity air that does not change in density appreciably, AFT’s incompressible software, AFT Fathom, is frequently used for these systems (see Case Study 1).

In addition to low velocity air systems, AFT Fathom is well suited to analyze chilled water systems often utilized in HVAC (see Case Study 2). This generally requires not only a hydraulic solution, but also a thermal one. AFT Fathom provides a variety of thermal models for pipes and heat exchangers allowing the user to capture a wide variety of heat transfer possibilities and optimizing the conditions of the target environment.

Resources

Case study 1 – AFT Fathom Instrumental in Reconfiguring Office Building HVAC System

Case study 2 – Campus Chill Water System Improved Through Hydraulic Modeling with AFT Fathom