Title: Detailed analysis of turbulent flows in air curtains

Authors: Julian E. Jaramillo; Carlos D. Perez-Segarra; Oriol Lehmkuhl; Jesus Castro

Addresses: Institute of Mathematics and Computing Science, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands; Heat and Mass Transfer Technological Centre, Technical University of Catalonia, C. Colom 11, 08222 Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain. ' Heat and Mass Transfer Technological Centre, Technical University of Catalonia, C. Colom 11, 08222 Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain. ' Termo Fluids S.L., C. Magi Colet 8, 08204 Sabadell, Spain; Heat and Mass Transfer Technological Centre, Technical University of Catalonia, C. Colom 11, 08222 Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain. ' Heat and Mass Transfer Technological Centre, Technical University of Catalonia, C. Colom 11, 08222 Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain

Abstract: In order to prevent entrainment, an air curtain should provide a jet with low turbulence level, and enough momentum to counteract pressure differences across the opening. Consequently, the analysis of the discharge plenum should be taken into consideration. Hence, the main object of this paper is to study the discharge chamber geometry and the presence of blades for ?ow orientation. This analysis is carried out in order to understand their in?uence on the jet produced. Studies presented are based on detailed numerical simulations and on experimental measurements. The in?uence of the turbulence model, boundary conditions and computational domain is investigated.

Keywords: computational ?uid dynamics; CFD; turbulence; air curtains; LES; large eddy simulation; hybrid RANS-LES; unstructured grid; symmetry preserving; turbulent flows; jets; discharge plenum; discharge chamber geometry; blades.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2011.042845

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2011 Vol.11 No.6, pp.350 - 362

Published online: 06 Oct 2011 *

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