Introduction to CFD Simulation of Smoking Room with Intake Fans

Smoking rooms require specialized ventilation systems to protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke while maintaining acceptable air quality inside. Smoking room CFD analysis helps engineers design effective ventilation using intake fans and exhaust fans to control smoke movement and ensure proper air exchange rates. The challenge is balancing negative pressure to prevent smoke leakage while providing enough fresh air through intake fans for comfortable breathing. ANSYS Fluent simulations predict smoke particle trajectories, concentration levels, and removal efficiency for different fan configurations and room layouts, making it a powerful tool for smoke simulation Fluent. Smoking room Fluent models include species transport equations to track tobacco smoke components like particulates and carbon monoxide through the space. The intake fan CFD analysis, a key part of this ventilation CFD for smoking rooms, considers proper fan placement to create airflow patterns that quickly capture and remove smoke before it spreads. This type of air quality CFD is crucial for occupant safety. Ventilation CFD studies show that ceiling exhaust fans combined with low-level intake fans create the most effective smoke removal patterns. Modern smoking-room ventilation systems maintain negative pressure of 5-15 Pascal while achieving 60-100 air changes per hour to meet indoor air quality standards. Effective intake fan CFD modeling is essential for these designs.

Figure 1: Schematic of a smoker during smoking in a smoking room CFD model

Smoking Room CFD Simulation Process

The smoking room CFD model includes a realistic 3D geometry with a human figure representing the smoker positioned inside the enclosed space. We applied fan boundary conditions in ANSYS Fluent using performance curves that define the relationship between pressure jump and flow rate for the intake fan. This is a critical step in setting up an ANSYS Fluent smoking-room simulation. The Fluent meshing tool generated polyhedral cells, suitable for Fluent meshing for indoor environments with complex geometries. Species transport equations track four components: oxygen and nitrogen for air, CO2 from exhalation, water vapor, and smoke particles, making this a detailed species transport CFD simulation. The transient simulation captures how smoke spreads from the source and how quickly the ventilation system removes it over time. Each time step, allowing the smoking-room Fluent model to show realistic smoke plume development and dispersion patterns. The intake fan CFD setup includes swirl and turbulence effects that influence how fresh air mixes with contaminated room air.

Smoke CFD Analysis: Post-processing Smoking Room Ventilation 

The smoke concentration reaches maximum values of 0.0097 mass fraction directly around the smoker’s mouth and cigarette, creating a localized high-concentration zone that the ventilation system must quickly remove. This detailed smoke concentration CFD is a key output. Smoking room CFD results confirm that the intake fan successfully creates airflow patterns that sweep smoke particles toward the exhaust opening on the right side of the room. The smoke plume follows natural buoyancy patterns, rising from the cigarette source before being captured by the horizontal airflow created by the ventilation system. Concentration levels drop rapidly with distance from the source, reaching near-zero values in the upper left corner of the smoking room, proving the exhaust system effectively prevents smoke accumulation in dead zones. The smoking-room Fluent simulation, visualized through ANSYS Fluent smoke visualization tools, captures how smoke particles mix with room air while being transported toward the exhaust, maintaining acceptable air quality throughout most of the space.

Figure 2: Smoke Mass Fraction Distribution in Smoking Room

The velocity field reaches peak values of 15.1 m/s at the intake fan location, creating the driving force needed for effective smoke removal throughout the smoking room. Intake fan CFD analysis results prove that proper fan sizing generates sufficient airflow to overcome smoke buoyancy and transport contaminants to the exhaust before they can spread to other areas. The 3D CO2 distribution pattern mirrors the smoke transport behavior, with maximum concentrations of 0.01 mass fraction near the smoker and rapid dilution as the ventilation system removes exhaled gases. Ventilation CFD results demonstrate that the intake fan creates a sweeping airflow pattern that captures both smoke particles and CO2 from human respiration, maintaining the negative pressure needed to protect adjacent spaces. This highlights the ventilation effectiveness CFD of the design. The ANSYS Fluent simulation confirms that this smoking-room design achieves effective contaminant removal while providing adequate fresh air supply for occupant comfort.

Figure 3: Velocity Distribution showing Fan removing smoke