Test of turbulence models for heat transfer within a ventilated cavity with and without an internal heat source

Abstract

In this study, six of most frequently used turbulence models in computational fluid dynamics were compared with experimental data. The experimental cavity is a cube whose edge is 1 m long. The left vertical wall receives a constant and uniform heat flux, while the opposite wall is kept at a constant temperature. The rest of the walls are adiabatic. The heat source is a rectangular parallelepiped with square base 0.3 m on a side and height 0.61 m. The cavity represents a ventilated room in a 1:3 scale with multiple inlets and outlets of air, considering ventilation by ducts of an air-conditioning system. The experimental setup was built to obtain temperature profiles and heat transfer coefficients. Temperature profiles were obtained at six different depths and heights consisting of 14 thermocouples each. It was found that the lowest average of percentage differences for the case with the heat source turned on corresponds to realizable k-ε turbulence model (rkε) with 0.84%.