Question-and-Answer Resource for the Building Energy Modeling Community
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I haven't used IES-VE, but I have used Phoenics from CHAM extensively. It is a general purpose CFD package that can handle mixed flow situations. It is more than capable of this type of problem. The open-source toolkit, OpenFOAM, can also handle this type of situation, but requires far greater fluid dynamics knowledge and time to set up a case. Other general-purpose solvers that would work include Flovent, Fluent, CFX, Autodesk Simulation CFD.
Any RANS CFD solver should work. The IES-VE documentation mentions that it includes the K-E turbulence model, upwind and hybrid discretization schemes. These are fairly standard for CFD, so it should likely work well.
It seems as if you will want to understand how buoyancy is being modeled for this type of case. Some solvers may use the ideal gas equation to vary density, while others may approximate buoyancy forces through an approximation based on the delta T. General-purpose CFD software, like Phoenics, allows you to select from a large number of models to use the most appropriate one.
A good resource for learning more about CFD is http://www.cfd-online.com
