Assessment of CFD Solvers and Turbulent Models for Water Free Jets in Spillways

Abstract

The capability of two different OpenFOAM® solvers, namely interFoam and twoPhaseEulerFoam, in reproducing the behavior of a free water jet was investigated. Numerical simulations were performed in order to obtain the velocity and air concentration profiles along the jet. The turbulence intensity was also analyzed. The obtained results were compared with published experimental data and, in general, similar velocity and air concentration profiles were found. InterFoam solver is able to reproduce the velocity field of the free jet but has limitations in the simulation of the air concentration. TwoPhaseEulerFoam performs better in reproducing the air concentration along the jet, the results being in agreement with the experimental data, although the computational runs are less stable and more time consuming. The sensitivity analysis of the inlet turbulent intensity showed that it has no influence in the characteristics of the jet core. With this research it is possible to conclude that: interFoam with k-Epsilon (k-) turbulence model is the best choice if the goal of the numerical simulations is the simulation of the velocity field of the jet. Meanwhile, twoPhaseEulerFoam with mixturek-Epsilon (mk-) shall be considered if the objective is the simulation of the velocity field and the air concentration.