DEVELOPMENT OF A HYBRID KAPPA-EPSILON TURBULENCE MODEL FOR SWIRLING RECIRCULATING-FLOWS UNDER MODERATE TO STRONG SWIRL INTENSITIES

A hybrid k-epsilon turbulence model, based on the concept that the modification of anisotropic effects should not be made in the flow regions inherent to small streamline curvatures, has been developed and examined with the swirling recirculating flows, with the swirl levels ranging from 0.6 to 1.23 in abrupt pipe expansion. A fairly satisfactory agreement of model predictions with the experimental data shows that this hybrid k-epsilon model can perform better simulation of swirling recirculating flows as compared to the standard k-epsilon model and the modified k-epsilon model proposed by Abujelala and Lilley.