Numerical Study of Hydrodynamics and Heat and Mass Transfer of a Ducted Gas–Vapor‐Droplet Flow

A computational model has been developed to predict heat and mass transfer and hydrodynamic characteristics of a turbulent gas–vapor–droplet flow. Turbulent characteristics of the gas phase are computed using the k– model of turbulence. It is shown that, with increasing inlet droplet diameter, the rate of heat transfer between the duct surface and the vapor–gas mixture decreases appreciably, whereas the wall friction increases only insignificantly. The predicted values agree fairly well with available experimental and numerical data     

Permeability Effects of Turbulent Flow Through a Porous Insert in a Backward-Facing-Step Channel

In the present work, a k– model, based on the work of Lee and Howell (Proceedings of the ASME-JSME Thermal Engineering Hawaii, 1987), is rigorously derived based on time average of spatially averaged Navier–Stokes equations. The model is then employed to solve for a flow in a backward-facing step channel with a porous insert. The numerical solver is modified from the STREAM code (Lien and Leschziner, Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Eng. 114 (1994a) 123–148), and it has been validated against the experimental data of Seegmiller and Driver (AIAA Journal 23 (1985) 163–171). The code is then used to perform simulation for cases with a porous insert. The resistance of the porous insert can be altered by changing its permeability (), Forchheimers constant (F), or thickness (b). The goal is to examine the influence of each parameter on the resulting flow and turbulent kinetic energy (k) distributions. It is discovered that, by increasing the resistance of the insert, flow eventually enters a transitional regime towards relaminarization. This is due to the contribution of Darcys and Forchheimers terms in the governing equations, and modifying these two terms changes the levels of P_k and, hence, k and . Generally speaking, lowering or raising F results in a greater suppression of P_k than , causing the flow to relaminarize. Meanwhile, if the pore size is reasonably large to sustain turbulence within the porous media, increasing b reduces but does not eliminate the turbulent activity in the porous insert.     

An application of the k-ɛ model with variable Prandtl number to heat transfer computations in air flows

The two-equation `low Reynolds number' k-? model of turbulence with a set of universal constants suggested by Launder and Sharma is modified in the present paper. The variability of the turbulent Prandtl number Pr_t in the energy equation is assumed along with a change of a constant in the dissipation term of the turbulent kinetic energy equation. The turbulent heat transfer is computed for an air flow in a circular pipe for the Reynolds number within the range of 10⁴?4. The modification considerably improves the agreement between the numerical results and the experiment data published in the available literature.     

A variant of the low-Reynolds-number two-equation turbulence model applied to variable property mixed convection flows

Previous work has demonstrated that the low-Reynolds-number model of Launder and Sharma (1974) offers significant advantages over other two-equation turbulence models in the computation of highly non-universal buoyancy-influenced (or “mixed convection”) pipe flows. It is known, however, that the Launder and Sharma model does not possess high quantitative accuracy in regard to simpler forced convection flows. A variant of the low-Reynolds-number scheme is developed here by reference to data for constant property forced convection flows. The re-optimized model and the Launder and Sharma formulation are then examined against experimental measurements for mixed convection flows, including cases in which variable property effects are significant.     

Thermo-mechanical modeling of turbulent heat transfer in gas–solid flows including particle collisions

A thermo-mechanical turbulence model is developed and used for predicting heat transfer in a gas–solid flow through a vertical pipe with constant wall heat flux. The new four-way interaction model makes use of the thermal k_θ–τ_θ equations, in addition to the hydrodynamic k–τ transport, and accounts for the particle–particle and particle–wall collisions through a Eulerian/Lagrangian formulation. The simulation results indicate that the level of thermal turbulence intensity and the heat transfer are strongly affected by the particle collisions. Inter-particle collisions attenuate the thermal turbulence intensity near the wall but somewhat amplify the temperature fluctuations in the pipe core region. The hydrodynamic-to-thermal times-scale ratio and the turbulent Prandtl number in the region near the wall increase due to the inter-particle collisions. The results also show that the use of a constant or the single-phase gas turbulent Prandtl number produces error in the thermal eddy diffusivity and thermal turbulent intensity fields. Simulation results also indicate that the inter-particle contact heat conduction during collision has no significant effect in the range of Reynolds number and particle diameter studied.     

Application of Rheological Models in Prediction of Turbulent Slurry Flow

The paper deals with fully developed steady turbulent flow of slurry in a circular straight and smooth pipe. The Kaolin slurry consists of very fine solid particles, so the solid particles concentration, and density, and viscosity are assumed to be constant across the pipe. The mathematical model is based on the time averaged momentum equation. The problem of closure was solved by the Launder and Sharma k-ε turbulence model (Launder and Sharma, Lett Heat Mass Transf 1:131–138, 1974) but with a different turbulence damping function. The turbulence damping function, used in the mathematical model in the present paper, is that proposed by Bartosik (1997). The mathematical model uses the apparent viscosity concept and the apparent viscosity was calculated using two- and three-parameter rheological models, namely Bingham and Herschel–Bulkley. The main aim of the paper is to compare measurements and predictions of the frictional head loss and velocity distribution, taking into account two- and three-parameter rheological models, namely Bingham and Herschel–Bulkley, if the Kaolin slurry possesses low, moderate, and high yield stress. Predictions compared with measurements show an observable advantage of the Herschel–Bulkley rheological model over the Bingham model particularly if the bulk velocity decreases.     

Prediction of developing turbulent flow in 90°‐curved ducts using linear and non‐linear low‐Re k–ε models

This paper reports the outcome of applying two different low‐Reynolds‐number eddy‐viscosity models to resolve the complex three‐dimensional motion that arises in turbulent flows in ducts with 90^° bends. For the modelling of turbulence, the Launder and Sharma low‐Re k–ε model and a recently produced variant of the cubic non‐linear low‐Re k–ε model have been employed. In this paper, developing turbulent flow through two different 90^° bends is examined: a square bend, and a rectangular bend with an aspect ratio of 6. The numerical results indicate that for the bend of square cross‐section the curvature induces a strong secondary flow, while for the rectangular cross‐section the secondary motion is confined to the corner regions. For both curved ducts, the secondary motion persists downstream of the bend and eventually slowly disappears. For the bend of square cross‐section, comparisons indicate that both turbulence models can produce reasonable predictions. For the bend of rectangular cross‐section, for which a wider range of data is available, while both turbulence models produce satisfactory predictions of the mean flow field, the non‐linear k–ε model returns superior predictions of the turbulence field and also of the pressure and friction coefficients. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Droplets Evaporation on Turbulence Modification and Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Two-Phase Mist Flow Downstream of a Pipe Sudden Expansion

Turbulent droplet-laden flow downstream of a sudden pipe expansion is numerically studied using an Eulerian two-fluid model. The model is used to investigate the effect of droplet evaporation on the particle dispersion and on the gas phase turbulence modification. Turbulence suppression in the case of evaporating droplets is hardly observed near the wall, and the level of turbulence tends to the corresponding value for the single-phase flow regime. In the flow core, where evaporation is insignificant, a decrease in the level of gas turbulence (to 20 % as compared to a single-phase flow) can be observed. The maximal effect of droplet evaporation is obtained in the wall region of the tube. A considerable increase in the maximal value of heat exchange on adding the evaporating droplets to the separated flow is shown (more than 1.5-fold as compared to the single-phase flow at a small value of droplet mass concentration of M _L1≤ 0.05). The addition of the solid non-evaporating particles causes a slight increase in the maximum value of heat transfer in the case of small particles and a decrease in heat transfer in the case of large particles.     

A robust formulation of the v2−f model

The elliptic relaxation approach of Durbin (Durbin, P.A., J. Theor. Comput. Fluid. Dyn. 3 (1991) 1–13), which accounts for wall blocking effects on the Reynolds stresses, is analysed herein from the numerical stability point of view, in the form of the $\bar v^2 - f$ . This model has been shown to perform very well on many challenging test cases such as separated, impinging and bluff-body flows, and including heat transfer. However, numerical convergence of the original model suggested by Durbin is quite difficult due to the boundary conditions requiring a coupling of variables at walls. A ‘code-friendly’ version of the model was suggested by Lien and Durbin (Lien, F.S. and Durbin, P.A., Non linear κ ? ε ? υ ² modelling with application to high-lift. In: Proceedings of the Summer Program 1996, Stanford University (1996), pp. 5–22) which removes the need of this coupling to allow a segregated numerical procedure, but with somewhat less accurate predictions. A robust modification of the model is developed to obtain homogeneous boundary conditions at a wall for both $\bar v^2 $ and f. The modification is based on both a change of variables and alteration of the governing equations. The new version is tested on a channel, a diffuser flow and flow over periodic hills and shown to reproduce the better results of the original model, while retaining the easier convergence properties of the ‘code-friendly’ version.     

Turbulent flow and convective heat transfer in a wavy wall channel

This paper reports the numerical modeling of turbulent flow and convective heat transfer over a wavy wall using a two equations eddy viscosity turbulence model. The wall boundary conditions were applied by using a new zonal modeling strategy based on DNS data and combining the standard k– turbulence model in the outer core flow with a one equation model to resolve the near-wall region.It was found that the two-layer model is successful in capturing most of the important physical features of a turbulent flow over a wavy wall with reasonable amount of memory storage and computer time. The predicted results show the shortcomings of the standard law of the wall for predicting such type of flows and consequently suggest that direct integrations to the wall must be used instead. Moreover, Comparison of the predicted results of a wavy wall with that of a straight channel, indicates that the averaged Nusselt number increases until a critical value is reached where the amplitude wave is increased. However, this heat transfer enhancement is accompanied by an increase in the pressure drop.     

Natural convection flow in a square cavity revisited: Laminar and turbulent models with wall functions

Numerical simulations have been undertaken for the benchmark problem of natural convection flow in a square cavity. The control volume method is used to solve the conservation equations for laminar and turbulent flows for a series of Rayleigh numbers (Ra) reaching values up to 10¹⁰. The k-? model has been used for turbulence modelling with and without logarithmic wall functions. Uniform and non-uniform (stretched) grids have been employed with increasing density to guarantee accurate solutions, especially near the walls for high Ra-values. ADI and SIP solvers are implemented to accelerate convergence. Excellent agreement is obtained with previous numerical solutions, while some discrepancies with others for high Ra-values may be due to a possibly different implementation of the wall functions. Comparisons with experimental data for heat transfer (Nusselt number) clearly demonstrates the limitations of the standard k-? model with logarithmic wall functions, which gives significant overpredictions.     

Experimental investigation of post-dryout heat transfer in annulus with spacers

Experimental investigations of post-dryout heat transfer in 10 × 22.1 annulus test section with spacers were carried out in the high-pressure two-phase flow loop at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). The test section was manufactured of Inconel 600 to withstand high temperatures. Several thermocouples were installed on tube and rod surfaces to measure the local wall temperature. Measurements were performed for mass flow rate in range from 500 to 2000 kg m⁻² s⁻¹, with inlet subcooling equal to 10 and 40 K, heat flux in a range from 480 to 1380 kW m⁻² and for the system pressure of 7 MPa. Uniform axial power distributions were applied on rod and tube walls. Using different distributions of heat flux between walls, post-dryout was achieved either on the inner or on the outer wall. The experimental results indicate a very strong influence of spacers on post-dryout heat transfer. For low mass flow rates the wall superheat was significantly reduced downstream of spacers, even though the whole distance between spacers was still under post-dryout conditions when heat flux was high enough. At high mass flow rates and under investigated range of heat flux the dryout patches were effectively quenched downstream of spacers.     

Near‐wall profiles of mean flow and turbulence quantities predicted by eddy‐viscosity turbulence models

This paper presents for the simple flow over a flat plate the near‐wall profiles of mean flow and turbulence quantities determined with seven eddy‐viscosity turbulence models: the one‐equation turbulence models of Menter and Spalart & Allmaras; the k‐ω two‐equation model proposed by Wilcox and its TNT, BSL and SST variants and the $k-\sqrt{k}L$ two‐equation model. The results are obtained at several Reynolds numbers ranging from 10⁷ to 2.5 × 10⁹. Sets of nine geometrically similar Cartesian grids are adopted to demonstrate that the numerical uncertainty of the finest grid predictions is negligible. The profiles obtained numerically have relevance for the application of so‐called ‘wall function’ boundary conditions. Such wall functions refer to assumptions about the flow in the viscous sublayer and the ‘log law’ region. It turns out that these assumptions are not always satisfied by our results, which are obtained by computing the flow with full near‐wall resolution. In particular, the solution in the ‘log‐law’ region is dependent on the turbulence model and on the Reynolds number, which is a disconcerting result for those who apply wall functions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

NUMERICAL PREDICTION OF SEMI-CONFINED JET IMPINGEMENT AND COMPARISON WITH EXPERIMENTAL DATA

The standard k–ε eddy viscosity model of turbulence in conjunction with the logarithmic law of the wall has been applied to the prediction of a fully developed turbulent axisymmetric jet impinging within a semi-confined space. A single geometry with a Reynolds number of 20,000 and a nozzle-to-plate spacing of two diameters has been considered with inlet boundary conditions based on measured profiles of velocity and turbulence. Velocity, turbulence and heat transfer data have been obtained using laser–Doppler anemometry and liquid crystal thermography respectively. In the developing wall jet, numerical results of heat transfer compare to within 20% of experiment where isotropy prevails and the trends in turbulent kinetic energy are predicted. However, stagnation point heat transfer is overpredicted by about 300%, which is attributed directly to the turbulence model and inapplicability of the wall function.     

Influence of leading-edge lateral injection angles on the film cooling effectiveness of a gas turbine blade

Typical film-cooling configuration of a symmetrical turbine blade leading edge is investigated using a three-dimensional finite volume method and a multi-block technique. The computational domain includes the curved blade surface as well as the coolant regions and the plenum. The turbulence is approximated by a two layer k– model. The computations have been performed using the TLV two-layer and the TLVA models. However, the utilization of the TLV and TLVA models has not improved the prediction of the lateral averaged film cooling effectiveness of gas turbine blades when compared with those obtained using wall function strategy.The general features of film cooling such as jet blow-off, high turbulence intensity in the shear layer, and secondary rotating vortices are captured in the present study. Comparison between predicted and experimental results indicates that the trends of the thermal field are well predicted in most cases. In the second part of this study, the influence of lateral injection angle on lateral averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness is investigated by varying the lateral injection angle around the experimental value ( = 25°, 30°, 35° and 60° spanwise to the blade surface). It was found that the best coverage and consequently, the maximum film cooling effectiveness are provided by the most extremely inclined injection angle, which is 25° in this investigation.     

Nonlinear turbulence models for predicting strong curvature effects

Prediction of the characteristics of turbulent flows with strong streamline curvature, such as flows in turbomachines, curved channel flows, flows around airfoils and buildings, is of great importance in engineering applications and poses a very practical challenge for turbulence modeling. In this paper, we analyze qualitatively the curvature effects on the structure of turbulence and conduct numerical simulations of a turbulent Uduct flow with a number of turbulence models in order to assess their overall performance. The models evaluated in this work are some typical linear eddy viscosity turbulence models, nonlinear eddy viscosity turbulence models （NLEVM） （quadratic and cubic）, a quadratic explicit algebraic stress model （EASM） and a Reynolds stress model （RSM） developed based on the second-moment closure. Our numerical results show that a cubic NLEVM that performs considerably well in other benchmark turbulent flows, such as the Craft, Launder and Suga model and the Huang and Ma model, is able to capture the major features of the highly curved turbulent U-duct flow, including the damping of turbulence near the convex wall, the enhancement of turbulence near the concave wall, and the subsequent turbulent flow separation. The predictions of the cubic models are quite close to that of the RSM, in relatively good agreement with the experimental data, which suggests that these models may be employed to simulate the turbulent curved flows in engineering applications.     

Effects of radiation on turbulent natural convection in channel flows

A computational study has been carried out to analyse complex interaction of radiation with turbulent natural convective flow of dry and humid air in open-ended channels. Transient flow simulations are undertaken in the channel with one uniformly heated wall and adiabatic side walls for different values of emissivity of active walls with and without participating medium. To adequately present turbulence and radiation, a computational model included large eddy simulations for the turbulent flow coupled with discrete ordinates method for radiation transfer. Spectral line-based weighted-sum-of-grey-gases for the absorption properties of water vapour has been adopted. Complex three-dimensional vortical structures are identified which directly affect the temperature distribution on the heated wall. Including wall to wall radiation resulted in significant changes in the heat transfer, reaching 14 °C temperature drop at the hot wall with wall emissivity of 0.9. Mixing and cooling rates in this case were increased by up to 25%. Including gas radiation for the humid air with the water vapour molar fraction of 0.02 corresponding to saturated conditions at inlet temperature of 25 °C did not have a significant effect on the mean flow and temperature values comparing with wall to wall radiation. However, turbulent statistics have changed significantly resulting in a delayed transition to turbulence near the active wall of the channel and increased turbulent activity near the cold wall. The model developed in the present study is also applicable in fire management, where the aim is to reduce the damage that occurs when a PV module is exposed to high temperatures.     

Simulation of turbulent flow and heat transfer in channels between rod bundles

The turbulent flow and heat transfer in triangular rod bundles are investigated theoretically with CFD code FLUENT. The unsteady Reynolds Stress Model is adopted as turbulence modeling. The wall function is used for near wall boundary layer. The calculation results were in agreement with experimental data. The effects of the Reynolds number and pitch to diameter ratio on the flow and heat transfer in the lattice are significant. The traditional theoretical models could not predict the flow and heat transfer in the lattice. The P/D = 1.03 is a critical point. In this case, the flow and heat transfer in the lattice is the most desirable and most efficient, and the nuclear power could also reach its maximum. The variation of large scale coherent structure with pitch to diameter ratio is consistent with the variation of the Nusselt number with pitch to diameter ratio.     

Effect of surface permeability on the structure of a separated turbulent flow and heat transfer behind a backward-facing step

The structure and heat transfer in a turbulent separated flow in a suddenly expanding channel with injection (suction) through a porous wall are numerically simulated with the use of two-dimensional averaged Navier–Stokes equations, energy equations, and v ²–f turbulence model. It is shown that enhancement of the intensity of the transverse mass flux on the wall reduces the separation region length in the case of suction and increases the separation region length in the case of injection up to complete boundary layer displacement. The maximum heat transfer coefficient as a function of permeability is accurately described by the asymptotic theory of a turbulent boundary layer.     

A two‐scale low‐Reynolds number turbulence model

In this study, a two‐scale low‐Reynolds number turbulence model is proposed. The Kolmogorov turbulence time scale, based on fluid kinematic viscosity and the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy (ν, ε), is adopted to address the viscous effects and the rapid increasing of dissipation rate in the near‐wall region. As a wall is approached, the turbulence time scale transits smoothly from a turbulent kinetic energy based (k, ε) scale to a (ν, ε) scale. The damping functions of the low‐Reynolds number models can thus be simplified and the near‐wall turbulence characteristics, such as the ε distribution, are correctly reproduced. The proposed two‐scale low‐Reynolds number turbulence model is first examined in detail by predicting a two‐dimensional channel flow, and then it is applied to predict a backward‐facing step flow. Numerical results are compared with the direct numerical simulation (DNS) budgets, experimental data and the model results of Chien, and Lam and Bremhorst respectively. It is proved that the proposed two‐scale model indeed improves the predictions of the turbulent flows considered. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.