Computational fluid dynamics simulation of Rayleigh streaming in a vibrating resonator

Rayleigh streaming is a time-averaged flow that can exist in the thermal buffer tubes of thermoacoustic prime movers and refrigerators and is driven by the viscous stresses close to the solid boundaries. This mean flow leads to mean convective heat transport, which can have large impact on the performance of thermoacoustic devices. Rayleigh streaming in a standing wave resonator is simulated using a commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and is compared to existing analytical models of Hamilton et al. (2003). A test case is developed, and a standing wave is generated by applying a harmonic volume force to the domain. Both the inner and outer streaming vortices are well described for a range of radii from R/δν = 3…20 and the magnitude of the streaming velocity matches analytical values. This paper shows the possibility of using available as-is CFD software for the simulation of streaming in a standing wave resonator. The presented results pave the way for the simulation of more complex geometries and studies to reduce the negative effects Rayleigh streaming can have on thermo-acoustic prime mover and refrigerator efficiency.