Section: New Results

Modelling of turbulent flows with strong variations of the physical properties

The effects of a strong transverse temperature gradient, very common in industrial applications, on a turbulent Poiseuille flow were studied numerically using RANS models, in order to determine the closure level necessary to reproduce the influence of variations of the physical properties, for a wide range of wall-temperature ratios. Eddy-viscosity models prove able to correctly reproduce the asymmetry of the flow and the tendency toward relaminarization close to the hot wall, which are mainly due to the strong variations of the molecular viscosity. Discrepancies in the predictions of the different closure levels only appear for the highest temperature ratios. A journal paper is under revision for publication in Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow.