CONTROL-VOLUME FINITE-ELEMENT SOLUTION OF CONFINED TURBULENT SWIRLINGFLOWS

A control volume finite element method that uses a triangular grid has been applied for solving confined turbulent swirling flows. To treat the velocity-pressure coupling, the vorticity-streamfunction formulati on has been used. For turbulence effects the k-epsilon model has been adopted. Consistent with the use of wall functions in the near-wall re gions, a boundary condition for the calculation of the vorticity at co mputational boundaries is proposed and used effectively. The discretiz ed equations are obtained by making use of an exponential interpolatio n function. Its use has been beneficial in reducing numerical diffusio n. Comparisons of the current predictions with available experimental and numerical data from the literature showed generally fair agreement .