In February 2023, the new 40-gate terminal at Kansas City International Airport opened for commercial air service – a little more than 50 years after the original three-terminal airport began serving the area surrounding Kansas City, MO. At just over 1 million sq. ft. and with a budget of $1.5 billion, the new terminal is the largest single infrastructure project in the city’s history.
| The new 40-gate terminal opened for commercial air service in February 2023 |
The new, modern building features a large check-in hall, expanded open hold rooms and a finely tuned facade design that maximizes daylighting without sacrificing thermal comfort. The hold room and departures areas are conditioned with an overhead mixing system composed of long- and short-throw diffusers hidden up high behind architectural elements, as well as with floor grilles along the perimeter.
| The new, modern building features a large check-in hall that maximizes daylighting |
The main design challenge of this project was balancing daylighting with solar heat gain in the departures area since it has a full-height wraparound glass facade and skylights. It was determined that the diffusers initially specified – selected from the manufacturer that was basis of design for the project – were not ideal for the space. The project team’s concerns centered around not only whether the diffusers could create and maintain occupant comfort but also whether the air jetting from the nozzles would cause a “wind chime” effect with the art pieces hanging from the ceiling. The art installations were, after all, meant to be seen, not heard.
| A major design challenge was balancing daylighting with solar heat gain from the full-height wraparound glass facade and skylights |
The team at Jorban-Riscoe immediately thought of how the correct diffusers could be selected with the help of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, which would virtually demonstrate how the HVAC system would interact with the indoor environment. Predict, Price’s CFD modeling service, was used to ensure the supply air would be delivered into the occupied zone from a high sidewall location without excessive draft.
While working on this project, the Predict team spent much of its effort on a CFD model of the second-level departures area to refine diffuser sizing and placement. The CFD model showed that even though set-point temperatures were met, extra capacity was needed to offset the effect of the solar load. This was achieved with a combination of slightly more supply air volume and a lower supply air temperature, as well as with adjustments to how the drum louver diffusers were directed into the space, to optimize mixing performance.
| Much of the CFD team’s effort was spent on a CFD model of the second-level departures area to refine diffuser sizing and placement |
The CFD results showed that reasonable adjustments to the HVAC design could yield good thermal comfort under worst-case, design-day conditions. Air travelers will no doubt enjoy both the stunning architecture and the comfortable indoor environment of the new terminal – one that Kansas City can be proud to show off to its visitors.
To learn more about how your next project can benefit from a CFD analysis, visit the Predict website or contact the Predict team at info@PredictCFD.com.