Join Our Team
Subscribe
Explore
Get to Know Us
Our Culture Code of Conduct Mergers and Acquisition
Career Opportunities
Opportunities at Trinity Submit a Resume
Put Your Degree to Work

We assist clients through a combination of consulting support, technology-based solutions, professional training, and staffing services.

View Open Positions

Miller-Remick Optimizes Hospital Air Quality with Advanced CFD Modeling

Arrow
Download PDF
Download the PDF version of this case study.

Trinity Consultants Ensures Safe Airflow at Military Hospital with Advanced CFD Modeling

Share this case study!
Life SciencesLife Sciences
Environmental ConsultingEnvironmental Consulting

Industry

Hospitals & Medical Centers

Location

United States

Miller-Remick, a New Jersey-based engineering and construction management firm, embarked on a significant boiler replacement project at a southern military hospital. The project required specialized Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling to ensure that emissions from new combustion equipment would not become entrained in the hospital’s air intake units and ventilation system. For this highly technical challenge, and based on the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)’s general recommendation to use CFD to obtain accurate numerical solutions, Miller-Remick turned to Trinity’s Environmental Consulting (EC) and Advent Engineering teams, due to the company’s established reputation and expertise in environmental modeling.

Challenge

Miller-Remick was tasked with replacing outdated boiler equipment at a prominent southern military hospital, a critical project complicated by the hospital’s expansion over the decades and a lack of necessary drawings and data. The addition of a multi-story tower next to the original 1960s boiler house significantly altered airflow dynamics, raising concerns that emissions could potentially be drawn into the hospital’s air intake systems. Given these complexities, the project demanded nearfield analysis modeling, including comprehensive evaluation of wind and environmental conditions across different seasons. This would ensure that the hospital could accurately predict and mitigate the risk of emissions entrainment and meet stringent regulatory standards.

 

Solutions

Recognizing the challenges, Trinity reached into its broad and technically diverse resources. The company’s EC team kicked off the project by developing a detailed scope and cost proposal. Given the age of the site and the lack of drawings, a local Trinity team member visited the site to gather critical metadata, including photographs, measurements, and verified points of interest. This information was crucial for Trinity’s Advent Engineering team, part of the company’s Life Sciences division, which joined the team to lead the advanced CFD modeling efforts. With additional support from Trinity’s Cleveland EC team, which provided meteorological data and plume dispersion guidance, Advent quickly conducted the nearfield analysis required for the project.

Initial CFD results indicated that the planned boiler stack locations would lead to unacceptable emission levels being entrained in nearby ventilation air intakes. In response, Miller-Remick authorized Trinity to perform another round of modeling, this time adjusting the boiler stack height and location. The revised model demonstrated that the risk of plume entrainment was dramatically reduced and was expected to be acceptable to hospital management.

Services Performed

The team conducted on-site data gathering to support accurate CFD inputs, developed nearfield CFD models for plume dispersion, and analyzed meteorological and wind conditions. They modeled multiple stack configurations for safe emissions and produced clear technical and layman-friendly reports.

Results

Through seamless collaboration and technical expertise, Trinity successfully addressed the complex challenges of the hospital’s boiler replacement project. The iterative modeling process allowed for precise adjustments to the stack design, ensuring that emissions would not compromise the hospital’s air quality. The entire modeling process, from initial inquiry to final report, spanned six to eight weeks, showcasing the efficiency and technical prowess of the company’s seamless interoffice collaboration. This successful endeavor exemplified Trinity’s partnership with architectural firms to provide complex, accurate modeling solutions. Trinity’s integrated approach, involving multiple teams and specialties, enabled the company to deliver on time and within scope, setting a new standard for similar projects and paving the way for future collaboration.

6-8

Weeks from modeling to report

CFD

Nearfield analysis