Three-dimensional visualization of air flow in infant incubators using computational fluid mechanics.

An application of three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid mechanics to the air flow in infant incubators is presented. The air flows in two numerical models were simulated by directly solving the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible gases. The method used was a finite-volume method incorporating a body-fitted coordinate system. The basic model was based on a real infant incubator, which was slightly simplified and included a model of a baby. The number of computation grids was 56 (width) x 21 (depth) x 21 (height) = 24,696. There were several very-large-scale eddies in the incubator free space. In addition to the global structure, small-scale eddies were shown to be produced at many locations scattered in the free space. From these results, it is evident that the conventional assumption of steady and uniform flows in incubators is not always justified when considering heat loss from the body of a baby in an incubator.