Boundary element method for thermal flows using k‐ε turbulence models

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a multidomain boundary element method (BEM) for modeling 2D complex turbulent thermal flow using low Reynolds two‐equation turbulence models.

Design/methodology/approach

The integral boundary domain equations are discretised using mixed boundary elements and a multidomain method also known as a subdomain technique. The resulting system matrix is an overdetermined, sparse block banded and solved using a fast iterative linear least squares solver.

Findings

The simulation of a turbulent flow over a backward step is in excellent agreement with the finite volume method using the same turbulent model. A grid consisting of over 100,000 elements could be solved in the order of a few minutes using a 3.0 Ghz P4 and 1 GB memory indicating good efficiency.

Originality/value

The paper shows, for the first time, that the BEM is applicable to thermal flows using k‐ε.

Citation

Ramšak, M. and Škerget, L. (2008), "Boundary element method for thermal flows using k‐ε turbulence models", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 18 No. 3/4, pp. 514-532. https://doi.org/10.1108/09615530810853709