Numerical simulation of buoyant, turbulent flow. I. Free convection along a heated, vertical, flat plate (Q1075888)

Two models have been developed for predicting free convection low Reynolds number turbulent flows. The models also apply to mixed convection flows. The first, a k-\(\epsilon\) model, is based on the notion of eddy diffusivities for momentum and heat. The second, an algebraic stress model, is based on approximations derived for the anisotropic turbulent fluxes by a suitable truncation of their conservation equations. Both formulations apply to variable property flows with high overheat ratios, \(\Delta T/T_{\infty}\), and have not required the definition of new model constants. No attempt has been made to modify previously established values of the constants in order to improve agreement between measurements and predictions of the flow investigated. Fully elliptic forms of the differential transport equations, subject to appropriately specified boundary conditions, have been solved numerically for two flow configurations. Both are two-dimensional. The first corresponds to free convection along a heated vertical flat plate and is the subject of part I of this study. The second corresponds to free and mixed convection from a heated cavity of arbitrary rectangular cross- section and variable orientation, and is the subject of part II.