A comparative study of four low-Reynolds-number k-ε turbulence models for periodic fully developed duct flow and heat transfer

In this study, streamwise-periodic fully developed turbulent flow and heat transfer in a duct is investigated numerically. The governing equations are solved by using the finite-control-volume method together with nonuniform staggered grids. The velocity and pressure terms of the momentum equations are solved by the SIMPLE algorithm. A cyclic tri-diagonal matrix algorithm (TDMA) is applied in order to increase the convergence rate of the numerical solution. Four versions of the low-Reynolds-number k-epsilon model are used in the analysis: Launder-Sharma (1974), Lam-Bremhorst (1981), Chien (1982), and Abe-Kondoh-Nagano (1994). The results obtained using the models tested are analyzed comparatively against some experimental results given in the literature. It is discussed that all the models tested failed in the separated region just behind the ribs, where the turbulent stresses are underpredicted. The local Nusselt numbers are overpredicted by all the models considered. However, the Abe-Kondoh-Nagano low-Re k-epsilon model presents more realistic heat transfer predictions.