Computational fluid dynamics modelling and validation of the isothermal airflow in a forced convection oven

This article discusses the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD ) to calculate the three-dimensional isothermal airflow in an industrial el ectrical forced-convection oven. The governing fluid flow equations were ex panded with a fan model and a turbulence model. The standard and the renorm alisation group (RNG) version of the k-epsilon turbulence model produced co mparable results. The performance of the CFD model was assessed by means of point measurements of the velocity with a directionally calibrated hot-fil m velocity sensor. From the validation it was found that important aspects of the model are the fan head-capacity relationship, the fan swirl and the oven geometry. The calculation error was on an average 22% of the actual ve locity, caused by the limitations in turbulence modelling and numerical gri d density. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.