A Computational Analysis of Flow Development through a Constant Area C- Duct

This paper represents the results of an experimental work with measurement of mean velocity along with total pressure contours in 2-D form and validation of the same with numerical results based on the wall y + approach for various turbulent models like, Spalart Alamras, k-ε model, k-ω model and RSM models are used to solve the closure problem. The turbulence models are investigated in the commercial CFD code of Fluent using y + as guidance in selecting the appropriate grid configuration and turbulence model. The experiment is carried out at mass averaged mean velocity of 40m/s and the geometry of the duct is chosen as rectangular cross-section of 90 curved constant area duct .In the present paper the computational results obtained from different turbulence models are compared with the experimental result along with the near-wall treatments are investigated for wall y + <30 in the region where both viscous and turbulent shear dominates and y + >30 in the fully turbulent region. It is concluded in the present study that the mesh resolving the fully turbulent region is sufficiently accurate in terms of qualitative features. Here RSM turbulence model predicts the best results while comparing with the experimental results.