An analysis of turbulence models for prediction of forced convection of air stream impingement on rotating disks at different angles

Abstract

In this study, the performance of seven turbulence models for the prediction of the flow and heat transfer in forced convection of jets and air streams impinging on a disk in different stationary, rotating and inclined rotating conditions are compared using a large number of experimental case studies. These models include four RANS models, i.e. k-ε RNG, k-ω SST, transition k-ω SST and RSM and three hybrid models, i.e. SAS, detached eddy simulation with transition k-ω SST and detached eddy simulation with realizable k-ε (DDES-RKE). Based on a detailed comparison and error analysis, it is shown that while no RANS model is found to perform well in all regions of the flow, DDES-RKE model can capture all flow, i.e. velocity and kinetic energy fields, and heat transfer, i.e. mean Nusselt number, features of the problem in excellent agreement with experiments in all regions of the flow and for all stationary, rotating and inclined rotating conditions. In addition, the local Nusselt number distribution predicted by these models are compared and analyzed carefully. It is observed that the presence and interaction of the swirling vortex and leading-edge flow bubble result in a complex local Nusselt number distribution with several extrema.