A Numerical Study of Refrigerant Dispersion in Single and Multiple Connected Spaces (OR-16-017)

While the possible impact of refrigerant leaks and subsequent dispersion in an occupied space pertains to a wide variety of applications, dynamic models that accurately describe dispersion phenomena in the built environment have not been extensively explored in the literature. This paper builds on previous work by assessing the performance of well-mixed models via a comparison to computational fluid dynamics simulations and studying the behavior of refrigerant dispersion in multiple connected spaces. Results indicate that the well-mixed models are not able to capture variation in the geometric parameters very accurately, and should be used cautiously, while the studies of the dynamics in multiple spaces highlights the importance of the location of ventilation sources and sinks.