Title: Numerical modelling of flows in a solar-enhanced vortex gasifier: Part 1, comparison of turbulence models

Authors: Zhao Feng Tian; Graham J. Nathan; Yuchuan Cao

Addresses: Centre for Energy Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia ' Centre for Energy Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia ' Centre for Energy Technology, School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia

Abstract: The present paper reports the evaluation of performance of a series of turbulence models for an isothermal flow in a solar chemical reactor. This chemical reactor has similar swirling flow patterns to those in a solar-enhanced vortex gasifier (SVG) and measurements of velocity in this reactor are available in literature. Three turbulence models, namely, standard k-ε model, baseline (BSL) Reynolds stress model, and shear-stress-transport (SST) model are used to simulate the flows in the solar chemical reactor. It is found that the predictions of the three models are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data, although none are entirely satisfactory, with the predictions of the SST model being slightly better than those of the other models. However, even the SST model is not able to predict the anisotropic Reynolds stresses in the flow. More detailed measurements of flow fields in SVG type reactors are required for further evaluation.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; CFD; swirling flow; turbulence modelling; SST model; BSL model; k-epsilon model; solar-enhanced vortex gasifiesr; SVG; flow modelling; isothermal flow; solar chemical reactors.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2015.068819

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2015 Vol.15 No.2, pp.114 - 122

Published online: 13 Apr 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article