Numerical simulation of thermal plumes

Abstract Thermal plumes generated by pool fires and heptane spray fires were simulated numerically with the aid of the computer code PHOENICS. The flow fields associated with five cases were simulated and compared with experimental results. Modifications were made in the standard κ-ϵ model used in the PHOENICS code in order to improve the accuracy of that model in the simulation of turbulent thermal plumes. The modification includes an additional term related to the buoyancy generated turbulence kinetic energy, changing constants responsible for the turbulent viscosity and the effective Prandtl number in the energy equation. The results obtained with the modified code were in good agreement with experimental results and significantly improved the results obtained with the standard κ-ϵ model.

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