Turbulence Modeling Experience in Ducts with Forced Convective Flow

This study presents a general computational method for calculating turbulent quantities in arbitrary three-dimensional ducts. Four different turbulence models for the turbulent Reynolds stresses are compared, namely, a standard K-epsilon model, a nonlinear K- epsilon model, an explicit algebraic stress model (EASM), and a full Reynolds stress model (RSM). The turbulent heat fluxes are modeled by the simple eddy diffusivity concept, the generalized gradient diffusion hypothesis, and the wealth alpha earnings time methods. A finite volume technique for nonstaggered grids combined with the SIMPLEC algorithm is applied. A modified strongly implicit procedure is implemented for solving the equations. The van Leer scheme is applied for the convective terms except for the K and epsilon equations, where the hybrid scheme is used.