Evaluation of turbulence models to predict airflow and ammonia concentrations in a scale model swine building enclosure

Abstract The performance of five widely used turbulence models, the standard k – e model (SKE), the renormalization group k – e model (RNG), the realizable k – e model (RKE), the standard k – ω model (SKW) and the shear stress transport k – ω model (KWSST), were evaluated for simulations of airflow velocities and ammonia concentrations in a 1:12.5 scale model swine building without a floor (100% floor opening) and with a slatted floor with 16.7% floor opening area. The 100% floor opening case was used as a reference. The turbulence models were evaluated by comparing the numerical results with experimental data at representative points inside the scale model. The RKE and RNG models required less elements for grid-independent results with the predicted airflow patterns agreeing well with the smoke tests. The velocities and concentrations predicted by the RNG model were closer to the measured values with a maximum velocity difference of less than 0.03 m s −1 (9.3%) and a maximum normalized concentration difference of less than 0.09 (12.3%) for the 100% floor opening. For the 16.7% floor opening, the maximum velocity difference in the main space was less than 0.02 m s −1 (6.8%) and the maximum normalized concentration difference was less than 0.2 (25%). Thus, the RNG model most accurately predicts the airflow velocities and ammonia concentrations in the scale model swine building enclosure.

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