Impact of turbulence anisotropy near walls in room airflow

The influence of different turbulence models used in computational fluid dynamics predictions is studied in connection with room air movement. The turbulence models used are the high Re-number k–e model and the high Re- number Reynolds stress model (RSM). The three-dimensional wall jet is selected for the work. The growth rate parallel to the wall in a three-dimensional wall jet is large compared with the growth rate perpendicular to the wall, and it is large compared with the growth rate in a free circular jet. It is shown that it is not possible to predict the high growth rate parallel with a surface in a three- dimensional wall jet by the k–e turbulence model. Furthermore, it is shown that the growth rate can be predicted to a certain extent by the RSM with wall reflection terms. The flow in a deep room can be strongly influenced by details as the growth rate of a three-dimensional wall jet. Predictions by a k–e model and RSM show large deviations in the occupied zone. Measurements and observations of streamline patterns in model experiments indicate that a rea- sonable solution is obtained by the RSM compared with the solution obtained by the k–e model.