RANS AND LES COMPUTATIONS OF NATURAL CONVECTION IN A SQUARE CAVITY

Turbulent natural convection (Ra = 1.58·109 ) in a confi ned 3D square cavity with two diff erentially heated side walls are simulated numerically using the in-house EDF code (Code_Saturne) based on the unstructured fi nite volume solver. The objective of the present work is to investigate the performance of the low-Reynolds-number models known by their good suitability for the near-wall treatment. The low-Reynolds-number models, shear stress transport (SST) k–model, –f model which is a developed version of the original –2  f model, and the LES (large-eddy simulation) technique are used, and the results of their using are compared with the experimental benchmark data. The numerical results show quantitative and qualitative agreements. In general, the SST k– model gives good predictions for the temperature profi les, and the –f model is more accurate for the velocity profi le prediction. This is mainly due to the good resolution of the turbulence properties in the near-wall region and to the ability to mimic the physical fl ow features in this type of geometries.
Turbulent natural convection (Ra = 1.58·109 ) in a confi ned 3D square cavity with two diff erentially heated side walls are simulated numerically using the in-house EDF code (Code_Saturne) based on the unstructured fi nite volume solver. The objective of the present work is to investigate the performance of the low-Reynolds-number models known by their good suitability for the near-wall treatment. The low-Reynolds-number models, shear stress transport (SST) k–model, –f model which is a developed version of the original –2  f model, and the LES (large-eddy simulation) technique are used, and the results of their using are compared with the experimental benchmark data. The numerical results show quantitative and qualitative agreements. In general, the SST k– model gives good predictions for the temperature profi les, and the –f model is more accurate for the velocity profi le prediction. This is mainly due to the good resolution of the turbulence properties in the near-wall region and to the ability to mimic the physical fl ow features in this type of geometries.
Author:  M. Belharizi, A. Khorsi, Tayeb Yahiaoui, O. Ladjedel, L. Adjlout,c F. Zemani, O. Sikula
Keywords:  heat transfer, natural convection, diff erentially heated cavity, RANS, LES
Page:  1017