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Large Eddy Simulations of the Ceiling Jet Induced by the Impingement of a Turbulent Air Plume

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Abstract

In this paper, a sensitivity study is performed with FireFOAM 2.2.x for a hot air jet plume impinging onto a flat horizontal ceiling. The plume evolution and the induced ceiling flow are considered. The influence of the level of turbulence imposed at the inlet, in terms of intensity and eddy length scale, is discussed. Also, the effect of the turbulence model constant is examined. For the case considered, the best results are obtained when no sub-grid scale (SGS) model is used. If a SGS model is used, the level of turbulence at the inlet and the choice of the turbulence model constant are shown to have a significant effect on the prediction of plume’s spreading and the ceiling flow velocity. The eddy length scale at the inflow does not have significant impact on the results. Comparisons with the available experimental data indicate that FireFOAM is capable of predicting the mean velocity-field well. In the near field region, an under-estimation of the turbulent velocity fluctuations is observed, whereas reasonably good agreement is obtained in the far field.

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Abbreviations

T :

Temperature (°C)

Re :

Reynolds number (–)

u :

Velocity (m/s)

v :

Velocity (m/s)

D :

Diameter (m)

Fr :

Froude number (–)

g :

Gravitational acceleration (m/s2)

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy (m2/s2)

p :

Pressure (Pa)

Y :

Mass fraction (–)

D k :

Molecular diffusivity (m2/s)

D th :

Thermal diffusivity (m2/s)

Pr :

Prandtl number (–)

h s :

Sensible enthalpy (J/kg)

c k :

One-equation turbulence model constant (-)

c s :

Smagorinsky model constant (–)

S :

Strain rate (s−1)

z :

Height (m)

r :

Radial distance (m)

ρ :

Density (kg/m3)

μ :

Dynamic viscosity (kg/(m s))

ν :

Kinematic viscosity (m2/s)

ε :

Turbulent dissipation rate (m2/s3)

δ v :

Viscous sublayer (mm)

δ ij :

Kronecker delta (–)

i :

Inlet

m :

Maximum

∞ :

Ambient

t :

Turbulent

′ :

Fluctuations

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Scientific Fund for Research Flanders (Belgium) (FWO-Vlaanderen) through project 3G004912. Dr. Tarek Beji is Postdoctoral Fellow of the Fund of Scientific Research—Flanders (Belgium) (FWO-Vlaanderen). Xiangyang Zhou, Karl V. Meredith, Yi Wang and Prateep Chatterjee from FM Global are gratefully acknowledged for sharing the experimental data and their insightful guidance during this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Setareh Ebrahim Zadeh, Georgios Maragkos, Tarek Beji & Bart Merci

Authors
  1. Setareh Ebrahim Zadeh
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  2. Georgios Maragkos
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  3. Tarek Beji
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  4. Bart Merci
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Setareh Ebrahim Zadeh.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

The figures in the appendix present the comparison between the measured and predicted results for the one-equation model (c k = 0.03 corresponding to c s = 0.07) and the static Smagorinsky model (c s = 0.07) for 2.6 kW case. Figure 20 shows the evolution of the mean vertical velocity along the plume axis. The radial profiles of the averaged axial velocities, the turbulent radial and axial velocities and the shear stresses at heights z = 1D and z = 6D are displayed in Figures 21 and 22, respectively

Figure 20
figure 20

Evolution of mean vertical velocity (m/s) along the plume axis

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Figure 21
figure 21

Mean profiles of (a) vertical velocity (m/s), (b) turbulent radial velocity fluctuation, (c) turbulent vertical velocity fluctuation, and (d) turbulent shear stresses at z/D = 1

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Figure 22
figure 22

Mean profiles of (a) vertical velocity (m/s), (b) turbulent radial velocity fluctuation, (c) turbulent vertical velocity fluctuation, and (d) turbulent shear stresses at z/D = 6

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Ebrahim Zadeh, S., Maragkos, G., Beji, T. et al. Large Eddy Simulations of the Ceiling Jet Induced by the Impingement of a Turbulent Air Plume. Fire Technol 52, 2093–2115 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-015-0561-3

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