Evaluation of k‐ϵ turbulence models in predicting developing turbulent flow in the inlet region of a pipe

Abstract

Developing turbulent pipe flow in the inlet region of a smooth circular pipe at Re=194,000 (based on the pipe radius and the bulk velocity) and fully developed turbulent flow at Re=215,000 are simulated with six k‐ϵ turbulence models, including one high‐Reynolds‐number model and five low‐Reynolds‐number models. The fully elliptic forms of nondimensional governing equations in cylindrical coordinates are solved. The predictions for the axial mean velocity, turbulent energy, Reynolds stress, friction velocity and the growth of turbulent boundary layer are compared to available experimental data. The results show that most models have satisfactory predictions of the axial mean velocity; however, the turbulent kinetic energy and the Reynolds stress predicted by those models in the inlet region of the pipe have some discrepancy from the experimental data. From the relative performance of the models, the model of Chien (1982, AIAA J., Vol. 20, pp. 33–38) has a better simulation than the others.

Key words:

• model
• turbulence
• inlet
• pipe

Notes

Correspondence addressee