Comparing turbulence models for flow through a rigid glottal model

Flow through a rigid model of the human vocal tract featuring a divergent glottis was numerically modeled using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes approach. A number of different turbulence models, available in a widely used commercial computational fluid dynamics code, were tested to determine their ability to capture various flow features recently observed in laboratory experiments and large eddy simulation studies. The study reveals that results from unsteady simulations employing the k-omega shear stress transport model were in much better agreement with previous measurements and predictions with regard to the ability to predict glottal jet skewing due to the Coanda effect and the intraglottal pressure distribution or related skin friction coefficient, than either steady or unsteady simulations using the Spalart-Allmaras model or any other two-equation turbulence model investigated in this study.