Objectives  In response to the need for improved habitability arising from the harsh environment of submarine accommodation, this paper studies the conditioned air distribution for submarine accommodation equipped with spherical air distributors, and evaluate the thermal comfort of the accommodation.

  Methods  A high-precision three-dimensional model of accommodation is constructed with CATIA, and according to the actual boundary conditions, the numerical simulation of air distribution in the accommodation under surface and underwater conditions in summer and winter, and the numerical simulation of the conditioned air distribution in the accommodation with spherical air distributors under summer surface condition are carried out by using the Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD)technology. Besides, the distribution of the air temperature and velocity in the accommodation under each working condition is analyzed and compared, and the PMV value of the accommodation is calculated and analyzed.

  Results  It is shown that the PMV values of the accommodation are -1-1 under each working condition, the air velocity distribution in most areas of the accommodation is uniform, with the average air velocity of less than 0.3 m/s, and the temperature distribution in most areas of the accommodation is uniform, with average air temperature of about 24.5-26℃ in summer, and about 22-23.5℃ in winter.

  Conclusions  The typical air conditioning comfort of the submarine accommodation equipped with spherical air distributors is up to the standard.