Darwin Centre Drawers

Client - Fulcrum Consulting

The filing cabinets to the left are designed to contain entomological specimens which are sensitive to variations in temperature. As a consequence of this, it is important that the fabric has sufficient thermal resistance to maintain reasonable constant conditions within the drawers.

Flow Analysis was commissioned to advise on the expected temperature variation within the drawers compared with a reasonable daily ambient variation.

The only way this could be tackled is via a transient fully coupled fluids/solids analysis. The basic model set-up is shown to the left and the locations of 5 temperature monitor locations are indicated. 

Clearly the uppermost drawer is less thermally protected and consequently this drawer is the main focus of the investigation.

The various possible sources of error due to modelling approximations and numerics have been thoroughly investigated and eliminated.

The graph to the right shows the predicted temperature variations over 24 hours at the 5 monitor points compared with the imposed sinusoidal ambient variation. The most sensitive location (point 4) varies with an amplitude of about 15% of the ambient amplitude.

BACK TO NATURAL VENTILATION PROJECTS

HOME