PIV Measurement and Numerical Simulation of Airflow Field in a Road Vehicle HVAC Cowl Box

The analysis of airflow in an automotive HVAC cowl box is complicated by the cross sectional variations and abrupt changes in airflow direction. In this study, the complex three-dimensional turbulent flow found in a generic road vehicle cowl box is investigated experimentally and computationally. An optical anemometer is used to acquire the experimental data within a white metal sheet of a cowl box. The results are then used to validate and tune a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical cowl model.