I am doing a quick project on charicterisation of climatic chambers

(see http://www.angelantoni.it/index_acs_ing.htm if you've no idea what I'm on about))

I wish to firstly:

MODEL the airflow and see if it compares to results from hanging up pieces of cotton around the chambers..

SECONDLY

Model test specimens (basic shapes) inside the chamber to see how close they can be placed without producing any stagnant airflow ...

THE info which may be useful is:

The size of the chambers is a few meters squared The ISO standard states that airflow should not fall below 2 m/s inside the chamber.

ANY advice on what packages to start on (I'm a complete beginner!) pref. freewhare to start with.. and any other advice... would be gratefully recieved - Thanks (from confused, but enthusiastic Tom)

Hi tom,

If you are a complete beginner to cfd I don't think that using a cfd free package would help you. most of them don't have any interface and they are generally adressed to cfd expert.

If you want you can take a look at the following link which exhibit many free and low cost cfd software.

http://capella.colorado.edu/~laney/software.htm

Except that, you have many solution, depending on the time and money you can invest in this project :

1/ buy a general high end cfd package which is the most expensive solution for both time and money.

2/ buy a dedicated package (such as airpack or flovent) expense equal to 1 but less complex to handle

3/ buy a low end packqge which will do the work even if you will have less modelling feature than in 1 and 2. You can take a look at FloWorks for example Far less expensive than 1 and less complex than 2.

4/ hire a consulting society (my society for example ;-) or a freelance consultant. maybe less expensive but you won't have the know how.

I hope this could help you a little. Let me know if you need more precisions

Best regards

Alain