A numerical exercise for turbulent natural convection and pollutant diffusion in a two-dimensional partially partitioned cavity

We present the results of a numerical exercise aimed at comparing the predictions of different conventional turbulent modelling approaches for natural convection at Rayleigh numbers characteristic of applications such as energy savings, fire safety or thermal comfort. A two-dimensional configuration was considered that consists of two adjacent rooms separated by a lintel in which natural convection is induced through heating on their opposite sides and subjected to diffusion of a pollutant from one room to the other. Seven contributions are available. The comparison is carried out, in terms of local or global quantities, for the mean thermal and dynamic fields and for the unsteady diffusion of the pollutant from one room to the other. Characteristic differences between steady RANS and unsteady two-dimensional DNS and LES approaches are observed and discussed. (c) 2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.