Investigation of turbulence models for a fully-periodic LWR unit-cell in lattice-Boltzmann framework

In this paper, turbulent flow simulations of a typical LWR unit-cell are presented. Three subgrid scale turbulence models (WALE, VLES (k−ε) and VLES (k−ω)) have been implemented in open source lattice-Boltzmann code Palabos. The Smagorinsky-Lilly model already exists in the code. The simulations also include Smagorinsky-Lilly model results. The standard wall function implementation is made for all turbulence model simulations. The simulation results are compared with the Hooper's experimental data. Additionally, fine grid ANSYS Fluent simulations are performed using WALE turbulence model. The results show that VLES (k−ε) and VLES (k−ω) models give better agreement with experimental results even if the grid is intermediate in size.