23rd International Symposium on Transport Phenomena

Auckland, New Zealand

1922 November 2012

Benchmark Study of Flow and Heat Transfer for External and Internal Flows

R.S. Amano1
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Abstract
This study presents the study of both experimental and
computational work of two different flows and conditions
employing hybrid RANS/LES model; one is the flow behaviour
over an external body, and the other is a heat transfer study for an
internal flow. The predictions were demonstrated to be successful
and can be used for the industrial flow and heat transfer
computations.
Nomenclature
D Hole diameter of impinging jet
g gravitational acceleration
H Spacing between jets and the target plate
Nu Nusselt number
Re Reynolds number
s specific entropy
x Coordinate along the impinging jet plate
y Coordinate traversing the impinging jet plate
z Coordinate perpendicular to the impinging jet plate
thermal diffusivity
dynamic viscosity
kinematic viscosity
hand, need tools for accurate predictions in both flow and heat
transfer behaviours. This paper deals with both external flow
over a bluff body and internal flow in gas turbine blade cooling
systems to demonstrate RANS/LES approaches as a potential
tool for predictions of flows and heat transfer in wide range of
applicability.
Ahmed Body Setting up
The experiment was conducted in a wind tunnel as shown
inFigure 2. The sensor is a six-axis force transducer made by ATI
Industrial Automation. Force readings are output through a DAQ
card for the +/- x, y, and z directions. This sensor was chosen by
the previous group for its operational force range and ease of use.
The sensor is attached above to the upper mounting plate and
below to the lower mounting plate. To ensure that the sensor was
accurately measuring data obtained from the Ahmed body it was
necessary to run several calibration tests. Known weight was
placed on the mounting device at different locations. These
recordings were then measured and averaged. The recorded was
limited to the value with less than 5% error. The assumed
average force created by the wind was 0.46 Newtons, which is
created by a 15 m/s wind velocity. The Ahmed body is shown in
Figure 2.

Introduction

In computations of flows in industrial applications, the large eddy

simulation (LES) may constitute a valuable way to compute the
flows. Indeed, the LES computations [1] generally capture the
topology of the flow and Hinterberger et al. [2] showed that the
accuracy of the solution is undeniably improved compared to the
RANS studies. Particularly, the unsteady phenomena are well
described and the solution captures about two-thirds of the peak
of turbulent kinetic energy measured at the beginning of the slant.
However, the flow does not reattach over the slant and a
quantitative comparison of mean velocities and turbulent stresses
profiles show large differences with experimental data. Small and
large scale structures of instability on the slant were reported by
using the detached eddy simulation (DES) for a larger Reynolds
number flows [3] (over 700,000) and by LES at smaller Reynolds Figure 1. Wind tunnel test section.
number at around Re=200 000 or less [4]. However, the statistics
of the DES do not compare favorably with the experimental
results. More recently, a Lagrangian approach proposed by Fares
[5] provided more satisfactory results, but no turbulent stresses
profiles were however presented. Recently, automotive and
power industries have a high demand for reliable simulation
methods capable of tackling the complex turbulent air flow and
heat transfer. For the aerodynamic applications, the Ahmed
reference model is a generic car-type bluff body with a slant
back. It is frequently used as a benchmark test case for this kind
of flow. In spite of the relatively simple geometry of the Ahmed
body, the flow around it retains some main features of the flow
around moving cars [6]. The gas turbine industries, on the other

Figure 2 Ahmed body.
Turbine Blade Cooling using Impingement jets
A computer simulation of flow and heat transfer has been
conducted for studying the convective heat transfer of an array of
55 impingement jets with a constant heat flux boundary
condition. Spatial variation in time averaged Nusselt number as
well as spanwise time averaged Nusselt number are presented for
jet Reynolds numbers of 4,000, 8,000, 12,000, and 15,000 for a
jet to target standoff distance of z/D=3. As shown in Figure 3 the
impingement jet nozzle plate was designed with 5 rows of 11
nozzles, laid out in a rectangular pattern. The hole-diameter (D)
is 4.76mm. The non-dimensional spacing of the holes in the
nozzle plate is such that centers of the holes are placed at a fixed
regular spacing of x/D= 3 and y/D = 3.
Figure 3. Impingement jet chamber.
For each of these configurations the exit flow has also been
varied to include both a single exit and double exit configuration.
The time and overall area averaged Nusselt number is presented
as a function of jet Reynolds number. The results show that the
time averaged Nusselt number increases with increasing jet
Reynolds number in both the local and spanwise averaged values.
The single exit configuration provides lower values of local and
spanwise averaged Nusselt number for all jet Reynolds numbers
studied compared to the double exit configuration. This reduction
is caused by more cross flow accumulation while it moves
toward the exit.
Computational model
The numerical method is based on a multidomain Chebyshev
Fourier approximation. In the streamwise direction, the
computational domain is decomposed in nonoverlapping
subdomains of different lengths depending on the flow region.
The continuity of the solution at the subdomain interfaces is
ensured by using an influence matrix technique. In each
subdomain, a collocation Chebyshev method is used in the
vertical and streamwise directions, whereas a Fourier Galerkin
method is used in the spanwise periodic direction. The Gauss
LobattoChebyshev (GLC) mesh is especially adapted when
boundary layers occur at the boundary of the computational
domain, since GLC points accumulate at the end points of the
reference interval (1,1). Thus, the GLC mesh is well adapted to
describe the boundary layer that develops at the ground.
However, it is also required to take care of the boundary layers
that develop around the bluff body. In the streamwise direction
we make use of the fact that a domain decomposition is
implemented by locating subdomain interfaces precisely at the
front and rear parts of the Ahmed body. Moreover, a subdomain
interface also coincides with the beginning of the slant in order to
correctly describe the flow at the detachment line. In the vertical
direction we use a mapping to accumulate grid points at the roof
of the car model. The computations were compared with four
different turbulence prediction methods (turbulence models and
simulation methods).
Presentation of Results
Ahmed body:
The computations were compared with four different turbulence
prediction methods (turbulence models and simulation methods)
and shown in Figure 4, where compared are the middle section
velocity profile surrounding the Ahmed body among LES, DES,
k-, and k- turbulence model and the experiment. Because the
LES and DES are unsteady flows, and the observed force
coefficients ; thus the velocity profiles of LES and DES represent
the ensemble averaged results. From the velocity profile
comparison in the upstream section (Figure 4(a)), we can see that
the simulations results are very close to each other, and LES is
even closer to the experimental measured results, and better
agreement can be reached at places where turbulent flow
intensity is weaker. In the downstream region, however, some
curves deviate from the experimental results. The prediction by
all the RANS and DES are quite similar, but LES prediction
gives better agreement with the experiment in a section towards
the rear section.
The computed turbulent eddies employing LES are shown in
Figure 5.
(a) Near the leading edge (b) Near the trailing edge
Figure 4. Comparison of the velocity profiles between experimental and computational results along the Ahmed body.

Figure 5. Turbulent eddies along the Ahmed body.
third near the target plate. The predominant flow direction in this
figure is from left to right (Figure 6(c)). As observed for the
velocity distribution, the distinct regions of the flow domain are
clearly evident in the results; an impingement-dominated zone of
high heat transfer close to the feed-holes and a developed zone in
which the Nusselt number distribution is spatially repeating for
subsequent hole-rows. As would be expected from the velocity
data, the impingement zone is characterized by strong spatial
variations in Nusselt number that are associated with the rapid
distribution of the fluid into the jet nozzle array. The regions of
highest heat transfer on the end-wall occur where the jet nozzles
intercept the hot-skin surface and generate a stagnation region. In
the impingement zone distinct local features are evident that
indicate the probable presence of vortical flow structures (see
Figure 7) for vortical motion.

Impinging jet:

Figure 6 shows the velocity distribution for z/D=3 and Re=4000

at three planes between the jet nozzles and the target: one just at
the nozzle exit, the second at the midway in the chamber, and the

flow

(a) At the exit of the nozzles (b) Half way between plates (c) Near the foil
Figure 6. Computed velocity distributions at different section in the chamber for a single exit case.

Figure 7. Iso-vorticity wakes simulated by LES, single exit,
z/D=3, Re=4,000.
As would be expected from the velocity data, the impingement
zone is characterized by strong spatial variations in Nusselt
number that are associated with the rapid distribution of the fluid
into the pin-fin array. The regions of highest heat transfer on the
end-wall occur where the pin-fins intercept the hot-skin surface
and generate a stagnation region. In the impingement zone
distinct local features are evident that indicate the probable
presence of vortical flow structures.
The computations with two different treatments of turbulence
near-wall models are shown in Figure 8. The Nusselt number
distribution near the middle column shows somewhat zigzag
shape for the computations with the standard wall function, but
that is straightened with the computations with V2F near wall
treatment. It is thus considered that the wall-function treatment in
the near-wall region does not provide reasonably stable
computations. For this reason, the rest of the computations were
made with v2f treatment in the near-wall regions.
Wall-function
v2f for the near-wall treatment
Figure 8. Nusselt number distribution with two different near-
wall models.
Figure 9 shows the Nusselt number distributions along the
centerline of the target plate for different H/D and Re cases. It is
clearly observed that the highest value of the peak of Nusselt
number appears at the second jet impingement floor for both h/D
is 3 and 4, but the highest value moves to the first jet spot for
H/D is 5. This is mainly because there is significant interaction of
moving flow along the plate and the impinging jets occurring for
H/D is 3 and 4. However, the interaction of the middle jet from
the outgoing flow is decreased for H/D=5 since the potential core
of the jet is shorter than 5D. According to Or, et al. [7], the
potential core length of the submerged jet was measured to be
3.8D, which clearly explains that both H/D=3 and 4 falls into the
potential core region through the chamber.
Conclusions
The results obtained through both the RANS based turbulence
models and the simulation techniques (LES and DES) are
acceptable. A high-order LES stabilization technique has been
applied satisfactorily for the first time to the industrial turbulent
flow over the Ahmed body. An original near wall treatment based
on a local relaxation of the technique threshold has been
implemented, which has considerably improved the results,
particularly the production of turbulence over the slant. Valuable
results have been obtained in globally good agreement with the
experimental results. The topology of the flow has been
recovered as the partial separation of the turbulent boundary layer
at the edge of the slant controlled by two strong contra rotative
trailing vortices. Horseshoe like vortices over the slant have also
been captured by the LES results. Mean velocity as well as
turbulence kinetic energy profiles fairly agree with experimental
measurements in the symmetry plane. More intrinsic properties
of the turbulence were pointed out as the k5/3 energy density
decay in the inertial range as well as the anisotropy properties.
However, improvements of the results should come from a better
description of the turbulent boundary layer dynamics over the
roof since the separation of the flow at the body front is expected
to be the main cause of the discrepancies with experiments. It
should also be mentioned as a consequence that the drag
coefficient that we presently obtain is overestimated. Solutions as
the decrease of the adverse pressure gradient by the confinement
as well as the implementation of viscosity kernel parameters that
could be selected adaptively by relating them to the dynamics of
the flow, i.e., the strain field, would involve higher resolutions.
In the computations of heat transfer study, it has been shown both
experimentally and computationally that a minor reduction in
Nusselt number occurs on the even rows of the jets. This
phenomenon was clarified through the extensive computational
investigation that the reduction of the heat transfer was attributed
to the vortex motion generated both by the surrounding jets and
the side wall effects.
Figure 9. Nusselt number distribution along the target plate, H/D=3, 4, 5. Re=4000, 8000, 12000, 15000, single exit.

[4] Krajnovic, S. and Davidson, L., Flow around a

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