CALCULATION OF THE TURBULENT BUOYANCY-DRIVEN FLOW IN A RECTANGULAR CAVITY USING AN EFFICIENT SOLVER AND 2 DIFFERENT LOW REYNOLDS-NUMBER K-EPSILON TURBULENCE MODELS

The buoyancy-driven flow in a tall rectangular cavity of 5:1 aspect ratio with a Rayleigh number of 4 x I010 is calculated using finite volume methods. The cels solver is extended to be able to handle large density variations. Cels is compared with simplec, and it is shown to be up to more than 4 times as fast as simplec. A modified form of a low Reynolds number k-e turbulence model is developed. This model is consistent in its near-wall behavior, and it allows simulation of the decay of grid turbulence. The model developed by Lam and Bremhorst [1] is also tested. Both turbulence models are shown to predict the transitional and relaminarization regions according to experiments. © 1990 by Hemisphere Publishing Corporation.