A Comparative Study of Variant Turbulence Modeling in the Physical Behaviors of Diesel Spray Combustion

In this research, the performance of nonlinear k-ε turbulence model in resolving the time delay between mean flow changes and its proportionate turbulent dissipation rate adjustment was investigated. For this purpose, the ability of Launder-Spalding linear, Suga non-linear, Yakhot RNG and Rietz modified RNG k-ε models are compared in the estimation of axial mean velocity profile and turbulent integral length scale evolution during engine compression stroke. Computed results showed that even though all the models can predict the acceptable results for velocity profile, for turbulent integral length scale curve, non-linear model is in a good agreement with modified RNG model prediction that depicts correspondence with experimental reported data, while other models show a different unrealistic behaviors. Also after combustion starts and piston is expanding, non-linear model can predicts actual manner for integral length scale while linear one cannot. It is concluded that, physical behavior of turbulence models characteristics should be ascertained before being successfully applied to simulate complex flow fields like internal combustion engines.