RANS SIMULATIONS OF TURBULENT AND THERMAL MIXING IN A T-JUNCTION

Authors

  • M. Aounallah Laboratoire d’Aéro-Hydrodynamique Navale
  • M. Belkadi Laboratoire d’Aéro-Hydrodynamique Navale
  • L. Adjlout Laboratoire d’Aéro-Hydrodynamique Navale
  • O. Imine Laboratoire d’Aéronautique et Systèmes Propulsifs

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.19.3.4663

Keywords:

T-junction, thermal mixing, turbulence models

Abstract

The turbulent and thermal mixing in a horizontally oriented T-junction is investigated numerically. The objective of the present study is to determine the mixing length in a T-junction where homogeneous temperature distribution is established in the cross section. A steady state three-dimensional turbulent flow is considered with a Reynolds number of 0.7 × 105 at the inlet of the main cold pipe. Grid is generated in a stretched manner so that strong gradients near the wall regions are accounted for as required. Four turbulence models are tested to provide closure for the Reynolds stress tensor: the k-ε standard, the
k-
ω standard, the k-ω SST and the RSM models. For all simulated cases, good qualitative agreement is obtained. Quantitative comparisons show that the standard k-ε and the RSM models give too low or high predictions, whereas both k-ω models are reasonably close between them. It is found that a length of 80 inch is enough to get homogenous temperature if a tolerance of 1°C is considered. Further simulations on a longer pipe are strongly encouraged to assist in elucidating the length mixing determination.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.19.3.4663

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Published

2013-06-20

Issue

Section

MECHANICS OF FLUIDS AND GASES