Experimental and numerical study of a full scale ventilated enclosure:: Comparison of four two equations closure turbulence models

Full-scale experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods are used to investigate the velocity and temperature fields in a mechanically ventilated enclosure. Detailed airflow fields are measured in three cases of ventilation air temperature: an isothermal case, a hot case and a cold case. The ventilation system creates an axisymmetric jet which is developing near the ceiling. The experimental data are used to test four two equations turbulence models: a k-epsilon realizable model, a k-epsilon RNG model, a k-omega model and a k-omega SST model. It is found that, even if the models can predict reasonably the hot and isothermal cases global values of temperature and velocity, none of the models is reliable concerning the cold case. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the jet shows that none of the models is able to predict the exact experimental velocity and temperature fields. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.