NUMERICAL PREDICTIONS OF TURBULENT RECIRCULATING-FLOWS WITH A KAPPA-EPSILON-MODEL

A standard k-epsilon model is used to simulate the turbulent recirculating flows over a backward facing step, a forward facing step and a single block. The advection terms are discretized by the upwind weighted difference scheme, the pressure problem is resolved by the artificial compressibility method. The results show that the k-epsilon model can give a good prediction for the mean velocities and the static pressure field. The turbulent kinetic energy is under-predicted. The numerical errors can produce serious deficiencies in the predictions. The structure of turbulent recirculating flows over a backward facing step is different to that over a forward facing step. Finally, the model is applied to the flow over a surface-mounted cube placed in a turbulent boundary layer.