Effect of the Reynolds and Richardson numbers on thermal mixing characteristics

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed numerical study regarding the influence of Reynolds and Richardson numbers in T-junctions with circular cross-section. The numerical investigation is based on the wall-resolved Large-Eddy Simulation (LES), which has been experimentally validated. The Reynolds number in the main pipe covers a range from Re=78400 to Re=235200, which is high enough to approach the engineering applications. This also belongs to the primary contribution of the current study. Furthermore, the temperature difference between the main pipe and branch pipe (Tm−Tb) is 180 K and the mass flow rate ratio (m˙m/m˙b) is 3. The primary focus is on thermal mixing characteristics in the downstream as well as on the evolution of the flow by consideration of gravity and buoyancy effects. Additionally, our study considers the thermal field and its corresponding fluctuations in the near-wall region. In addition, this paper also includes simulations with different T-junction configurations therefore we can examine the influence of the entrance orientation of the heavier cold branch pipe fluid on the mixing process and heat transfer. The analysis of our results indicates that gravity effects can be neglected in cases with increased Reynolds number and simultaneously decreased Richardson number. The area with high fluctuation intensities becomes larger by the higher Reynolds number and lower Richardson number of the mixing flow therefore they shows a higher potential for High Cycle Thermal Fatigue (HCTF). Furthermore, the highest near-wall thermal fluctuations are 40% of the temperature difference between the mixing flows.